Brainwashed
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: Danny's finally come home, to his relief, but just as he's readjusting, strange dreams and his parent's marital problems begin. Now, he has to confront the people responsable for the situation, and the person he finds helping it along. Complete!
1. Coming Home

_And I thought I'd never have a home again,_ 15-year-old Daniel Fenton thought to himself as he walked through the stainless steel front door frame, and into his old house, rubbing the back of his mid-night colored head thoughtfully.

"Ow," he winced suddenly as he hit a raw point on one of his fingers. Pulling his hand into his chest quickly, he looked at the bandages the hospital had refused to remove. He almost laughed as he looked down at himself.Here he was still sporting bruises, scrapes and deep cuts from his previous encounter with a rather nasty, ½ dead tree–among other things. To anyone else he looked rather...well...interesting to say the least.

Bringing himself out of his thoughts, he proceeded into the first room of the house and looking around. Seeing this familiar sight, the sight he remembered in his dreams every night and most days for almost as long as he'd been away, he couldn't help but sigh happily. He set the small bag he had been carrying down on the worn carpet in the entry way, and just stood there with his eyes closed, letting the feel of the remodeled house-turned-lab come washing over him, like a warm blanket. He smiled at the thought of a decent night of sleep in this house, the first in four long months, all of which he would give just about anything to forget.

"Hey," Jazz, his older sister said softly, stepping up next to him with a smile. She also carried an extremely small bag, seeing as she had taken nothing to Wisconsin when she'd left this town herself only a few days ago. The few things Danny had taken with him when he'd left all those months before had long since been lost or sold. Their parent's however...

"Step aside, son!" His father's usual, jovial voice boomed from behind them, as the older man stumbled inside, almost bent completely backwards under the load he carried. Danny shook his head at the sight of his father struggling beneath at least a dozen bulging bags, barely able to carry them all at once. That was saying something once his father's enormous size (half due to fat, half due to muscle, almost all due to hereditary) was taken into account.

"Do you need some help?" Danny asked, stepping out of his slowly progressing father's path.

"No thanks, son!" Jack Fenton grunted heading towards the general vicinity of the stairs. The slighter figure of his mother following warily, watching her husband with a knowing look.

"You be careful, Jack Fenton," she warned as he began his labored march up the stairs.

"Don't worry, Maddie," he grunted, moving his leg slowly to the next step, and literally throwing all of his weight forward. Maddie just shook her head before turning to her two children.

"Take your things to your rooms, and then meet your father and me back in the living room. We have a few things to discuss." Danny and Jazz winced at the sound of her voice. The "talk" they had both been dreading since they had started the long trek back to Amnity Park, Pensylvania would shortly be taking place. To say that they were not looking forward to it could easily be taken as an immense understatement.

The loud crash of their father as he came tumbling down the stairs didn't help the situation.

xoxoxox

The slight frame of a young, African American girl with long, black hair and neon-green eyes floated through the expansive marble halls of the old, Dairy King Castle, warily looking around for the occupants of the building as she snuck towards her destination, one particular room. She didn't like going through the mansion, but she found it safer than going around the grounds, in the open. Here she had walls she could pass through, things she could hide in or behind. Out there, there was just sunlight and open, rolling hills with low mountains in the distance.

Although she didn't have to take a breath, she did so to calm her nerves, and dove across the hall. With her back to the wall, she turned invisible, and floated towards the stairs and the roof. Then, taking one last look around, she quickly lifted herself through the ceiling and into the desired room. To her relief, she saw no one. Unfortunately for Alesha, someone did see her.

* * *

Cyllwen: Thank you, I'm glad you think I'm awesome. :hug:

Halfa Wannabe: Three stories, for one big story. It's turning out to beso different fromwhat I originally expected, that I can't really relate it to anything or tell you much more about it. Book one1 story. Sorry if I didn't make that clear enough.

Hope you guys like it. :D


	2. The talk

For a picture of Alesha: www .deviantart .com /deviation /13830583/ (without spaces)

For a picture of Miller: www .deviantart .com /deviation /14920146/ (without spaces)

For a more realistic picture of both: www .deviantart .com /deviation /14744164/ (without spaces)

Danny," his mother said softly to him from the long couch where his father and she were sitting side by side, looking down and away from him. "We need to know why you thought we would ever kick you out." Danny sighed, not really knowing how to respond.

"You said so," he finally replied softly.

"Neither of us remember," His mother's clear, blue (almost purple) eyes met his.

"I know," Danny nodded, "Or I wouldn't have come back."

"We'll try and figure out what really happened later," Maddie continued after several moments of silence.

"It was probably ghosts," Jack muttered under his breath. His wife shot him a dangerous glance before turning back to her son.

"Well, you were going to tell us something, right?" She leaned towards him, resting her elbows on her knees. "Some sort of secret?" Danny shot Jazz a glance, but his sister just shrugged. She was the only person in the room who knew that in an accident with some equipment his parents had been working on almost a year earlier, he'd been drastically changed. He still remembered the bright green light, and the feeling of his body being scrambled, like someone had stuck an electric beater inside him and turned it on full blast. The next thing he knew, he woke up lying next to the equipment, a very different person from when he had stepped into the lab earlier that day. The first differences he realized, had been that his raven-black hair had turned stark white, and his eyes glowed a neon green. He later came to realize that his parent's experiments with ectoplasmic energy had turned him into a half ghost. He wasn't sure if that made him undead, or the walking dead or what, but he could now phase through objects, shoot energy blasts from his hands, fly and turn invisible, among other things.

He'd always just assumed that it was a good idea to keep this knowledge secret from his family, but everything had caught up with him. When he finally decided to try and tell his parents, they'd literally kicked him out onto the streets (although he later found that they had been...controlled at the time). With no where to go, and even his friends turning him out, he'd fled to New York, and later to the only other refuge he knew of...his arch enemy, Vlad Master's mansion. There he'd discovered that all of the previous events had been set up and orchestrated by this man, who also happened to be half-ghost.

Danny closed his eyes and sighed at the thoughts now running through his head.

"Look," he looked up at his parents. "It took me a while to get to a point where I could tell you the first time. I need some time to think about everything before I can really discuss it." He shook his head and stood up, leaving the comfort of his favorite, old brown armchair. "I'm sorry," he looked down and shoved his hands in his pockets, and headed for the stairs while the rest of his family watched his retreating back as he left the room.

xoxoxox

"You're risking a bit coming here as often as you do, aren't you?" Alesha looked up at the now familiar voice and silently cursed herself. She'd been too careless, yet again.

"What do you want, Miller?" She sighed and stood slowly from her kneeling position. The room had long since been cleared of the rubble that had once been the office furniture, before the explosion... She shook the thought from her head before she could finish it, and looked up at the teen-aged boy now floating above her. "You aren't going to tell on me, are you?"

"Why should I?" he asked with a shrug. "You're not hurting anyone, and you haven't been exactly forbidden from the premises..." He floated down and landed in front of her while she regarded him coldly. "Actually, I think it's rather sweet, and it shows how much you loved your brother." Alesha closed her eyes, willing away the imagined images of her brother's obliteration. Ghosts could die, and her brother had indeed done just that. She didn't know the exact details, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. All she knew was that she hadn't been there for him, and she needed to be here. He had been here last, and she wasn't ready to let him go.

"Could you just go away?" she asked, suddenly weary. He regarded her for a few moments through his long, brown hair before nodding.

"Before I do, though," he commented as he neared the door leading to the hall, "may I ask you a personal, and perhaps difficult question."

"I don't care," she sighed, and sank back to the ground.

"Did you tell your...friend," he almost sneered the word at her, but she didn't react so he continued, "that you were sent to–"

"Overshadow his parents and ruin his life?" she finished with a tone of bitterness lacing her words. "Yes." He remained silent for a few seconds, before nodding.

"That makes sense then," he turned to walk out of the room via the doorway, despite the fact that he never opened the door.

"What do you mean?" Her voice stopped him, and he smiled triumphantly before turning to meet her with a completely strait face.

"It was just what he said before he...left," Miller shrugged his scrawny shoulders, causing the old t-shirt hanging from them to shift to an even more un-flattering position.

"What did he say?" she asked, floating closer to him, not even bothering to stand up.

"He said that you losing your brother was a fair trade for his ruined life. You are now welcome at his home, seeing as that event made your...situations even." They stood in the large, empty room staring at each other for several moments, with the only movement between either of them being her blinking, rapidly. Finally her face contorted into a dangerous mask of anger and distrust, and she advanced on him.

"I want you to know that I don't listen to creepy liars, such as yourself." She turned her back on him, heading for the outside wall, despite the fact that she would be in the open once she was no longer in the house. Surprisingly, she found that she no longer cared...she only wanted to get away. "Danny would never say anything like that," she whispered, half to herself half to him. With that, she launched through the wall, leaving Miller with a sly, almost demonic smile on his face.


	3. watched

"Hey, Fentonio!" A familiar voice cut through the after-school clatter of students rushing to get away from the building.

"Aw man," Danny groaned. He'd been able to avoid just about everyone he wanted to for the last week and a half, since Spring Break had ended, but he knew his luck couldn't last. A few people, to his surprise, had cornered him and re-welcomed him back...or at least that's how he'd described it to Jazz, but for the most part he was just as invisible as ever. This time, however, he liked it that way. The popularity he had previously craved no longer held any of the glitter and hope that it once had. He didn't turn around as a shadow blocked most of the hall light from reaching him.

"I heard you ran away," Dash shoved Danny's locker door out of his hands. It banged closed loudly, and Danny sighed inside. Back just after Christmas Break, he'd have been cowering and scared. Now, he just felt weary and annoyed. Dash just didn't seem as dangerous as he'd used to.

"So?" Danny turned and faced him. Dash leaned close, a malicious grin on his face.

"Couldn't handle it, could you?" He laughed. "You're such a freak, Fenton." Danny felt the old, familiar feelings of anger begin to bubble inside him.

"I lasted longer than you ever could," Danny replied, grinning. Dash froze, his smile gone, and began to advance on Danny, who did not back down.

"What was that, Fenton?" he slammed his fist into his palm, and Danny immediately crouched, defensively. Maybe he'd picked up more at Vlad's than he'd realized, although the thought didn't exactly please him.

"Sometimes I can only use one power," he whispered to himself. He couldn't fly without giving himself away, he couldn't use ectoplasmic blasts in his human form, and he couldn't simply vanish...that would draw someone like Valarie down on him in a heartbeat. But what if Dash couldn't hit him...what if he gave an illusion...

"Talking to yourself now, Fenton?" Dash continued to advance until he was towering over the smaller teen. "You really did loose it, didn't you?" He slammed his fist together again. "Well, let me worsen your condition." Danny suddenly stood up and grinned confidently. He ducked as Dash swung at him, but although the football quarterback could have sworn that he had hit Danny, the momentum of his punch connecting with nothing sent him staggering forward. He turned and lunged at Danny again, who once again side stepped.

"Ooo, Fight! Fight!" Several students had gathered around them and were beginning to chant. Danny sighed. He'd hoped to just wear Dash out and walk away, but he wasn't sure if that was possible now. He stepped aside, and whirled around as Dash almost went running into the wall of students.

"I'll get you FENTON!" Dash screamed and went charging at Danny, who stood his ground until the last possible moment. Just before Dash hit him, he stepped aside, and Dash ran head-long into the lockers, causing a rather deep dent in both the row of lockers, and maybe even Dash's head. He fell immediately to the ground, groaning for a few moments before losing consciousness completely.

"What's going on here?" Danny put his hand over his eyes for a few moments before turning to face Mr. Lancer.

"Mr. Fenton," Lancer glared down at the teen menacingly. "Why am I not surprised."

"Dash fell into the lockers," Danny said, non-chalantly.

"What?" Lancer eyed him suspiciously. Danny rounded on one of the few stragglers that had stuck around.

"You saw the whole thing," he said to the boy, who paled slightly when Lancer too turned his attention on the boy. "Did I throw a punch?" The boy gulped and shook his head.

"N–no," he shook his head harder, causing his semi-short hair to fly out around him.

"Thanks," Danny nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Lancer," the half ghost turned and began to walk away.

"Wait a second, Daniel," Mr. Lancer said. Danny sighed and stopped. "We'll need a record–"

"I've got to get home," Danny said. "My parents want me home right after school. They've wanted me to do that ever since I got home. There are plenty of witnesses around. Bye." And with that, he walked away, turning a corner before Lancer could say anything.

"Daniel!" Lancer called after him. Danny heard his rushed steps after him, and immediately went invisible, seeing as the short hallway he had turned onto had only a few students at the end of the corridor who weren't paying attention to him. Lancer came around the corner, slowed and looked around.

"We shall discuss this, Daniel," Lancer muttered to himself.

"Don't call me Daniel," Danny growled to himself. Vlad called him Daniel, and he hated being reminded of his stay with the other half ghost. Without thinking, he leapt into Lancer, overshadowing the biology teacher.

"Actually," he said out loud, knowing that the thought would stay with the person overshadowed, heavily influencing their actions, "I don't think I'll do anything. He had a completely logical explanation, and I don't really need to worry about him." He was tempted to do something about Dash, but figured that being knocked out for several hours was good enough, and leapt out of his teacher, flying out to find Sam and Tucker.

xoxoxox

"You see," A male voice whispered, his voice barely audible in the semi-silence of the hall, "He uses his powers for his own gain. We both know where he learned that." No one answered the voice, so he continued. "Will you agree to the terms? You help us, and you get your revenge simultaneously." Again, silence answered him. "I know you didn't want to believe," the voice droned on. "But you saw it with your own eyes. Will you believe me now?" After a long pause a soft whisper finally responded with a single, simple sentence.

"Yes, to all of the above."


	4. She's back

Later that day, Danny walked into his room and sighed with relief. His parents had been waiting anxiously when he'd arrived home from school, and he didn't like the attention. Still, he felt that they were truly worried about him, and that was a good feeling, not to mention a welcome change from his last memory of them before he'd left all those months ago. Even the false memory of his parents turning their weapons on him made him shudder.

Pushing the thought aside, he threw his pack by his desk and flopped down on the bed. His bed. He still couldn't believe he was home again, although it had been almost three weeks since they'd returned from Wisconsin. His parents had kept him home for the first two weeks while they got everything situated, and they made him see councilors, as well as had a tutor come in to help him catch up again. Still, just being home brought a smile to his face as he grabbed his pillow and snuggled into it.

He hadn't been laying there for long, when a blue mist escaped from his mouth, causing him to sit up instantly. For the last few months he'd been ignoring the sensation that warned him when other ghosts were near. Vlad Masters hired ghosts to serve him, and when Danny had been living there, it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. But here, ghosts rarely came around to chat or lend a helping hand. Apparently, he'd have to resume his previous efforts of fighting ghosts and protecting his home town.

Danny sighed as two rings of light grew outward from his waist. They separated quickly, leaving a black and white Hazmat suit in their wake. The teen's eyes now turned from their normal ice blue to glowing green, and his black hair to a bright white.

"All that just for little old me?" A voice asked him. He turned quickly to see Alesha standing in the doorway. Her blue shirt, grey skirt and black shoes setting off a cool contrast to her warm hued, dark skin.

"Alesha?" Danny blinked, almost not believing she was there.

"Who else?" she asked, a grin spreading across her face.

"What are you doing here?" Danny walked up to her, still in his ghost form.

"Well, I couldn't very well stay at Plasmius's, now could I?" She smiled and wrapped her arms around him. Danny stood there, rooted to the spot, seeing as the only other girl who had ever hugged him (besides his family) had been Sam, and Paulina during one little fling, although she'd been overshadowed at the time. Finally getting over his shock, he hugged her back.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're welcome here," he said, stepping back. She smiled and nodded at him as he walked over to the door and quickly shut it. After that, he floated over to his desk, and grabbed the chair he'd tucked beneath it. He set it across from the bed, and gestured for her to sit down. She accepted his offer, although it occurred to him that she could simply take a seat in the air, seeing as she could float. Once she was seated, he detransformed and sat down on the edge of the mattress, looking down.

"Er...look," he sighed. "I wanted to tell you..." he bit his lip, "That I'm sorry." He finally finished.

"For what?" Alesha asked.

"For your brother," Danny couldn't meet her eyes. "I couldn't save him, and I'm so sorry." She didn't reply for several minutes, but Danny didn't dare look up. Finally, she answered softly.

"I'm sure you did what you could." Danny nodded, still refusing to meet her eyes. "Actually, that's another reason I came here," she said in the same tone. Danny finally looked up and saw her smiling sadly. "For quite a while after Brian...well..." she gulped and Danny nodded, encouraging her to continue. "I couldn't leave," she acknowledged his understanding and went on. "I just couldn't leave him. But then a lot of the ghosts started seeing me around, and I had to leave." She stood and started pacing around the chair. "Actually, by that time I felt like I couldn't stay there anyway. It was just too painful to stay. So," she plastered an obviously fake smile over her pain and glanced over at Danny. "I was wondering if I could help you out around here." The half-ghost couldn't help but let his face light up. Someone to help with ghosts? Someone who didn't have to go to school, and someone who knew far more about what was going on in the ghost zone? This was almost too good to be true.

"I'd love your help!" he jumped up and shook her hand vigorously. After a few moments of being shaken, she pulled her hand away, and raised her eyebrow at him.

"You're the only human I know of who would dare to give a ghost whip-lash." Danny blinked at her comment for a few moments before laughter escaped his lips.

"Sorry," he said through his chuckling. After a while, she caught the mood and began to laugh herself. So the two paranormal teens who had faced far more horrors in recent weeks than most people face in their entire existence began to heal the wounds that had been left in their souls. It felt good to laugh again.

* * *

Well, thanx again for the reviews. REPLY guys! 


	5. The Dreams Begin

"You know he betrayed you, don't you?" A whisper in the darkness of her sanctuary resounded around her. She couldn't see the source, as she hadn't willed the lights to go on, preferring to remain in the dark

"I told you to leave me alone!" She stood and turned around, throwing an ectoplasmic blast in the direction of the voice, but instead of a thump of soft flesh, she heard a shattering... "NO!" She screamed at the sound, horrified at the implications.

"HE BETRAYED YOU!" The harsh whisper echoed around the room, and she clamped her hands over her ears. "He's a murderer!"

"NO!" She screamed and fell to her knees, covering her ears. "No..."

Danny woke up with a start, and sat up, his heart pounding in his chest. Willing himself to calm down, he glanced over at his clock. 2:13 am. No ghosts, as far as he could tell, so what had brought on that dream? All he remembered from the dream was the darkness, surrounding him, suffocating him, although he'd been the girl...why? What would a psychiatrist say to this? He shook his head, making a mental note to avoid to telling Jazz. He laid back against the pillow and drew the covers up to his chin, suddenly cold. The dream had been so real...so real...

oxoxox

"Jack?" Maddie walked into the front room, obviously looking for something. "Where did you put the Fenton Finder?" Her husband never looked up from the pile of metal scraps he held in his lap, rummaging through them on the sofa.

"Um, I put it away, honey," he replied.

"Well, it's not there," Maddie put her hands on her hips.

"That's where I put it," he said, still immersed in sorting through the pile that currently held his attention. Maddie sighed and sat next to Jack.

"I'm still worried about Danny," she said, changing the subject. Jack stopped poking around, but still didn't look up. "I mean, he looks happy enough, but he still hasn't told us what that secret of his is. He's so much more quiet than he ever was before he left..." She sighed.

"Honey," Jack said, still refusing to look at her, "I'm sure he'd just going through a phase. He'll be fine." She shook her head and glanced at the clock.

"Jack! It's past midnight!" She put a hand to her head, "I didn't notice the time. Are you coming to bed?"

"Um, maybe in a little while, Maddie," he replied, his mind once again on the collection of objects. Maddie sighed and walked up the stairs. Slowly, she pulled on her pajamas, and turned down the covers. Shrugging, she brushed her teeth, and crawled beneath the blankets, suddenly realizing how tired she felt.

"Good night, Jack," she yawned, forgetting that he remained in the living room. Sighing, she fell quickly into sleep.

'Where am I?' She asked herself. She walked through a large room that looked more like a smoothed over, underground cave. Vague shapes grew from the floor and ceiling around her, and while she couldn't make them out clearly, she knew they weren't natural.

"Hello?" she called out, but the only sound she received was her own echo bouncing off of the walls. "Hello?" For the first time, she recognized the greenish tint, and realized she was in the Ghost Zone, although this was unlike anything she'd ever envisioned or seen of it.

"Hello," a voice behind her said quietly. She jumped and whirled around, holding her hands in a defensive position, but no one stood there.

"Who's there?" She called, moving to a more aggressive position.

"Someone with your best interests at heart," the voice whispered soothingly.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Why does your husband treat you the way he does?"

"What?" Maddie found herself completely taken aback.

"He ignores you, he says he loves you, but he never shows you, and he never gives you any real credit...why does he treat you like that?" The voice asked curiously. It sounded like a child...a young child.

"I...I guess I don't really know," Maddie answered. "He just gets a little wrapped up in his work sometimes."

"All the time," the voice continued. "You put up with it better than I could."

"Who are you?" Maddie asked again.

"I'm you," a figure replied, and appeared in front of her, the spitting image of herself...except she had glowing red eyes, fangs, blue skin, and an even lighter shade of blue hair. Not really knowing why, Maddie screamed, and woke up in her sleep. No one lay next to her, and no one came running.

* * *

Sorry if it's a bit confusing, but it will all come to light later. :D

Halfa Wannabe: Thank you so much. Your words of praise are flattering, if undeserved. :hug:

Celestial: I'm glad you like my picture of Miller. I love the more realistic style. It's fun.

Dark Ninja: I changed that for you. :D Thanx for the tip.


	6. To school

Danny slowly thumped down the stairs, rubbing trying to rub sleep from his eyes unsuccessfully. He stifled a yawn as he headed, almost as if in a trance, towards the kitchen. No one was there when he walked in, so he grabbed a bowl and poured the milk, half wishing for his mother's home-made pancakes. After that, he sat at the table, quietly trying to chew the crunchy cereal. He'd only had a few bites when his mother walked into the room, looking about like he feltdead tired. She nodded at him, and smiled before grabbing a bowl of cereal herself.

"Danny," she said after a few minutes, "are you okay?" He gulped the puffed wheat in his mouth down, and nodded. "Good," she sighed and proceeded to empty her own bowl one spoonful at a time. "Have you regretted coming back?" she asked, so softly that Danny could barely hear her.

"No," he replied. "I love being home, far more than you could ever realize. I promise," he smiled. "I just had a...an interesting dream last night." He sighed, "After that I didn't get much sleep."

"We're in the same boat there," Maddie grinned.

"Really?" Jazz asked, walking in. Both of them looked away from her as she walked over to the freezer and pulled out some frozen waffles. For once, she didn't notice. "What are you guys in the same boat about?"

"Nothing," Danny said quickly. "Look, I gotta get to school. Later." He gave his Mom a quick kiss on the cheek, and was out the door before anyone could say anything.

"Was it something I said?" Jazz blinked after him. Maddie didn't answer, but continued to slowly consume her own breakfast. "Where's Dad?" the red-haired girl asked as she opened the fridge and grabbed the syrup.

"I don't know," Maddie said quietly. "I don't remember him coming to bed last night."

"Oh," Jazz's tone matched her mothers. They heard banging and other things from the basement, and both sighed.

"Have a good day at school, hon," Maddie said suddenly, getting up and taking her half-finished bowl of soggy cereal to the sink. She gave her daughter a smile before putting her hood on and walking to the basement.

xoxoxoxo

"Hey Danny," the raven haired boy looked around as his ghost sense went off. He saw Alesha ahead of him on the street,running towards him andwaving happily. "I just went around the town. No ghost problems!"

"Nice," Danny grinned at her. "Thanks. You have no idea how much help you'll be."

"I think I have a slight idea," she grinned and fell into step beside him. "So, can I come to school with you?" He glanced over at her, surprise on his face.

"I-er...um, sure." He shrugged, "I don't see why not, as long as you stay invisible."

"What about your ghost sense?" She asked. He smiled.

"I can turn that off if I need to," he said. "I just have to concentrate hard enough, and only when a ghost sticks around. If a new ghost comes along, it'll go off again."

"That's useful," she smiled at him. He nodded, and saw the look on her face.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded.

"About as well as you are," she replied quietly. The answer satisfied Danny enough to get him to stop asking questions, and they walked the rest of the way to school in silence.

* * *

Sorry for the short chappie. Yay! I got reviews! Lots of Reviews:hug: Thank you everyone. Once again, if you have any criticism, go ahead and tell me.

Halfa Wannabe: Well, thank you again. I know I have talent, I'm just getting used to the fact. I didn't think so before. :hug:

LaBOBruen: I'm not saying anything. ;)

InuPhantom: Oh no, the EDC. ;) Well, if you happen to join up...well, I'm sure that we could arrange something. ;) Or you could just keep watching it. There should be some more interesting stuff going on with it soon. :hug: Thanx for the compliment on the pictures.

Dr. Dragon: Welcome. I'm glad you like my stories. :D And just so you'll know, things get worse before they get better.


	7. Empty Threats

**Empty Threats**

"So, she's here right now?" Sam referred to Alesha as the trio walked to lunch. Danny nodded with a smile.

"Yeah," he grinned. "She's going to join us for lunch."

Tucker looked up from his PDA. "Do ghosts eat?"he asked. Danny shrugged. Sam didn't look to happy. She probably hadn't gotten over Alesha's involvement in his running away. Danny did wish she didn't hold grudges for so long.

"Where is she now?" The Goth asked, her mouth thin and tight.That half-ghostshrugged.

"I didn't have to suppress my ghost sense about half way through last period, so I think she left then. Frankly, I can see why she ditched it. I mean, could that class be any more boring?" Tucker laughed at his remark.

"It's great to have you back buddy."

xoxoxox

"Jack," Maddie stood up from stooping and looking in the cupboards, "where are my goggles?"

"What honey?" Jack asked distractedly from under one of the many inventions they had scattered around the basement.

Maddie looked over at him, "I can't start on this without my goggles. I set them right here, did you move them?"

"No, honey," he replied. "It was probably a ghost!" Maddie sighed and rubbed her temple.

"Jack, I can't find them anywhere. What would a ghost want with them?"

"Good point. Sorry," he said, without so much as coming out to look at her. She sighed again, not really knowing why she suddenly felt so depressed.

"Why does he treat you like that?" the imagined whisper sent shivers down her spine.

"Jack, honey," she walked up to him. "Why don't we take a break from ghosts tonight." She put her arm on the machine and leaned down.

"DON'T PUT YOUR HAND THERE!" the large man yelled. Maddie jumped back, surprised. "I would have to redo four hours of work if you broke that." He rolled out on the board he had been laying on.

Maddie looked at him for a few seconds before looking away. "I'm sorry," she said. "Jack, what's gotten into you?"

"What?" he asked.

"Ever since Danny's been back, you've been jumpy and distracted. What's wrong?" He sighed.

"I don't know," he replied. "And I don't want to talk about it." Maddie felt her hopes sink. Why did this mean so much for her?

"I'm going out for a little while, okay?" She said, a little more coldly than she wanted to. He didn't seem to notice, so she walked out the door.

"Why do you put up with it?" the voiceless whisper ran through her mind.

"Shut up," she told it. "I don't care who you are, my husband loves me." A cruel laugh met her remark.

xoxoxox

"Hey you guys," Alesha walked up, her grey skirt swishing with movement, causing several guys to turn and stare in her direction. Tucker and Danny weren't exceptions, and Sam could only roll her eyes. Alesha either didn't see the look, or she ignored it and sat down gracefully. She looked like any normal human, seeing as any glow she gave off was negated by the harsh, bright lights of the cafeteria. "Could your classes be any more boring?" Danny and Tucker burst into laughter, and even Sam had to hide a snicker. "What's so funny?" the ghost asked.

Tucker stopped laughing for a moment and explained, "Danny was just commenting on that earlier". Alesha's face broke into a smile and she sat back.

"Maybe I'll just worry about patrolling during your school hours," she commented.

"So, Alesha," Tucker leaned forward, "do you eat anything?" he whispered. She laughed at his comment.

"Of course I do! I don't necessarily have to to continue existing, but if I want to keep my strength up, I have to eat something sometime." Tucker reply was interrupted by a very familiar voice coming up behind them.

"So." Danny's smile immediately disappeared as he recognized the voice and turned to see Dash Baxter cracking his knuckles. "What's a babe like you doing with these losers?" The curiosity that had graced the ghost's face before quickly turned to a bored, unimpressed look.

"Avoiding even bigger losers like you," she said dryly. Dash's smile also disappeared quickly.

"What did you say?" he asked quietly. Alesha waved her hand non-chalantly.

"You heard me," she covered heryawn with carless gesture. "Now could you please leave?" She glanced up at him through her dark shades, "if you hadn't noticed, everyone was happier before you came over. Even you."

"Why you little," he went to step forward. "Look," he stuck a finger at her, she only raised an eyebrow. "I was always taught not to hit a girl, but that doesn't mean I can't get at you in some other way. This isn't over."

She shook her head, "On the contrary,there is nothing you can do to me that hasn't already been done." Danny winced visibly at her words, as guilt washed over him. She was right. She'd been through torture, blackmail, losing her family, and even Death. Dash's threat really held no credibility. "So, you can try all you like, but," she lowered her glasses, causing her bright green, glowing eyes to come into contact with his, "I promise you, you will not succeed." Dash gasped and backed away.

"Freak!" he yelped and ran back to his table, tail set firmly between his legs. Alesha turned back to Danny and the others. Sam looked as if her admiration had risen several notches, and Tucker looked head over heals in love, but Danny's face looked like it had been carved from stone.

"You okay, Danny?" she asked. Danny shrugged.

"Yeah," he replied and continued to eat his lunch.

* * *

Dr. Dragon: Trust me, things can get worse...much much worse. Never say that things can't get worse...b.ecause it's never true.

BluishBlack Dolphin (BBD): Well, when you post your own story, go ahead and read mine then. We can exchange critiques and comments. :D

Squeakie: So that's where you got your name. Cute. :D Yeah, it is kind of funny if you ask me (about Jazz) which is why I wrote it. :D I'm glad you like it. :Hug: Thanx.

Calistar Heir: Thanx for reading. I appreciate it. :hug:And thanx for the review.

LaBOBruen: Now that is a mean threat. Goose. Fine...come after me with chainsaws, just don't be surprised when you can't catch me. ;) I'm not sayng anything because either I can't explain it without giving away something, or you're dangerously close. Can't remember which one it was now...:Oo:

Celestial: Yippee? Honey, you're starting to scare me. This is like a series of unfortunate events (although I've never read the series). It's turning out to be very depressing, and you're happy about it? sigh Well, I"m glad you like it in any case. Thanks for the review. :hug: Good luck in your classes and the PSS's and all...whatever those are.

Dark NInja:Sorry about that. I'll see what I can do.


	8. Feelings and Fears

"Oh my gosh!" Jazz squealed as she ran into the room. Danny looked up from the homework he had laid out on the kitchen table as she came running in with a piece of paper and an opened envelope. "I've been accepted! I've been accepted to St. Francis Xavier's Medical University!"

"But, you're only a junior," Danny pointed out, confused.

"I sent in an application a month ago becauseI wanted an early start, and they've accepted me! There's a lot of work I have to do, and I have to start now, but I've been accepted! EEE!" She screeched and hugged Danny before running downstairs to tell their parents.

"Well, it looks like I won't be seeing her for the next month," Danny commented with a raised eyebrow.

"What's all the commotion?" a voice asked as his ghost sense went off.

Danny looked up as the figure landed beside the table. "Hey Alesha," he smiled at her. "Jazz just got accepted into a university."

"But isn't she a Junior?" Alesha looked to where his sister had disappeared. Danny nodded.

"Yeah, but that's so like Jazz."

"Oh," she sat down across from him in silence for a few seconds before she spoke up. "I wanted to know what happened today," she said suddenly. Danny stopped writing, but didn't look up.

The half ghost stared at his paper as he spoke slowly and deliberately, "I...just...well, what you said was right...there is nothing that Dash can do to you. But some of those things you went through...were because of me." He glanced up before he looked down again. "I guess, I just felt bad." Alesha stared at him for a few seconds before she leaned across the table.

"Danny, that's all in the past," she said. "I've put it behind me, so can you." He looked up at her smiling face and nodded.

"Thanks," he smiled back. "When I'm finished with this homework we can go on patrol, if you want to come, that is."

"What else would I do?" she asked with a smile.

"Danny, I–Oh," They both looked over to see Jazz standing in the doorway. "Alesha," she smiled and walked over. "How long have you been here?" Alesha leaned back and smiled. "Oh, about a day."

"Really?" Jazz smiled. "Well, you're welcome as far as I'm concerned."

"I told her that," Danny grinned at his sister. The older girlsuddenly relaxed her otherwise tense frame. That was the first time she'd seen him truly smile in all the time she'd been around him since he'd returned.

"So what're you working on?"She took a seatnear him, opposite of Alesha.

"I need to look up silly definitions for all these words," Danny pointed to a long list. "I'm only on the 'b's too." He sighed.

"What's your next word?" Jazz asked.

"Brainwash." Danny replied.

"That's easy," Jazz smiled. "It's when someone gets told something over and over again, and they aren't allowed to get any other information on it."

"Thanks," Danny grinned as he wrote down the definition. "What about the rest of these." Jazz ruffled his hair. "HEY!" he yelled.

She winked, "If I told you all the definitions, you wouldn't be doing the work on your own. See you guys later."

"Oh, Jazz," Danny said quietly before she was out of hearing. She stoppedand faced him as he spoke. "I think I'm ready," he glanced at Alesha, who was staring at the tablecloth, obviously bored or distracted.

"Ready for what?" Jazz asked.

"To tell mom and dad," he whispered. No one answered for a long time. They all knew what he referred to.

"You may want to wait a little longer," Jazz said, just as quietly after the long pause. "Neither of them are in very good moods today." Danny nodded before lookingup with asmile.

"Thanks, Jazz," he said. "I want to tell them at the perfect time." Jazz smiled.

"You will, Danny. You will."

xoxoxox

Jack Fenton wasn't really paying attention to his work...he really wasn't paying attention to anything except the one thing he didn't want to focus on. He tried not to concentrate on the images now racing through his mind. He'd fallen asleep the afternoon before, and he remembered the dream almost as vividly as he was seeing the ectoplasmic energy rushing through the conduits before him.

_He walked through a darkened cave...or at least he assumed it was a cave, because his steps echoed, but he couldn't see anything around him.He could, however,see his limbs as clearly as if he stood in broad daylight. How that was possible, he didn't know, but here he was floating...or walking...or something, with no idea where_

"_You did it!" a voice echoed harshly around him, seeming to come from everywhere at once. He went for the emergency weapons that he always carried, but found the holsters empty._

"_Did what!" he asked, trying to sound non-chalant._

"_You drove your own son away," the voice mocked. "You drove him from you."_

"_But I don't remember–"_

"_Not then, stupid," the voice interrupted impatiently. "All the time before. You never cared, you never showed anything but your insane obsession...you're a horrible father."_

"_Well, we got him back," Jacks own voice rose in anger. "I can show him now!"_

"_And what about all those lost years? Is he really better off living with you?" The voice cackled cruelly. _

"_I'll start over!" Jack vouched, shaking his fist._

"_But Jack, the damage has already been done..." The voice now had a focal point. A floating figure in the distance._

"_Ghost," he whispered, and turned to run.It took him a few moments to realize that no matter how hard he moved his legs, he wasn't moving. As the figure approached, he realized that it wasn't just one figure...four seporate beings came forward, and he gasped as he realized what he was seeing. Maddie suddenly came in to focus, just standing there, butsomething drastic had beendone to his wife. Her normally fair skin had turned blue,as hadher hair...and her eyes glowed a bright red. He could only watch in horror as an evil smilecrossed her lips. "No," he whispered as she raised her finger and started to laugh at him. Jazz, looking fairly normal, if mean and cruel, followed suit, as if they were sharing some sort of inside joke. Danny stood away from both of them, regarding them all with an angry, almost hateful stare. The white haired ghost boy that had been rampaging the town for so many weeksfloated behind him. His glowing red eyes regarding Jack with a mean glint. He smiled and put a hand on Danny's shoulder. Danny shook his head at his father, and turned to go with the ghost._

"_DANNY NO!" Jack yelled and struggled to reach him, but he couldn't seem to move. "NO!" he reached out, but Danny had vanished. Jazz and "Maddie" seemed to only find this funnier, and began to laugh harder and harder. "NO!" Jack yelled again...but the figures had begun to fade, leaving him alone..._

He'd woken up in a cold sweat after that, and he'd been afraid to go to sleep that night. Now, whenever he saw them, their cruel laughter seemed to echo around him, mocking him. And he couldn't help but see Danny's hateful face as he turned away. And then there was the one thought that truly scared him, and it seemed to run across his mind no matter what was going on around him. It seemed to whisper over and over to him: "The voice was right."


	9. Dreaming again

The dreams returned again that night. Danny could see a green glow around him, and that voice...it kept moving. It kept taunting him...well, at least he was himself in this dream...but he wasn't supposed to be. He knew that he was him, but he wasn't at the same time. When he looked back on it later, he could only shake his head in confusion. He kept throwing ectoplasmic blasts at the voice, but he always missed, and usually hit something that would shatter or crash to the ground. With each crash, he felt more pain, and yet more satisfaction. Soon, he began to miss the voice completely, and started just throwing blasts at random, hoping to hit something...and yet dreading it...

xoxoxox

Maddie found herself running...running from whatever that was she had been forced to face. The creature simply glided along behind her, whispering cruelly.

"NO!" She shrieked as she tripped over something and went sprawling. Just as she clamped her eyes shut and braced for impact, fully expecting to fall flat on her face, something caught her. Barely daring to hope, she opened her eyes, and looked around. She found herself about an inch from the ground, hovering, but undamaged. She couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. As soon as she relaxed, she felt herself being lifted and carried away...but there was no one there. Looking back, she saw the blue figure look up, longingly, but she was no longer following. Then, to her horror, the blue figure began to grow and change. An orange jumpsuit appeared beneath a balding head with salt and pepper hair along with blue puppy dog eyes and a square jaw.

"Jack," she whispered, and saw him look away just before he disappeared from sight.

Her eyes popped open and she sat up in her bed, her heart racing once again. "Jack," she whispered, and looked over to see the bed once again empty beside her.

xoxoxox

No sooner had Jack fallen asleep then he found himself floating again. No more figures appeared, they didn't need to. They had all burned themselves mercilessly into his mind. He just sat there, cowering as the laughing continued.

He finally woke himself up, looking around in the familiar atmosphere of his bedroom. Trying not to wake his sleeping wife, he moved silently to the door, and walked downstairs. Perhaps he could find more solace in some other activity. The echo of the laughter echoed down the hall behind him.

"Hey dad," Danny said quietly as Jack walked into the living room. His son sat on the couch with the television on, very low. To Jack's surprise, the teenage boy had put on a Disney movie, dug up from the depths of the movie shelf. He spotted the cover on top of the television and saw the fingerprints in the thick layer of dust covering it, showing it's history of disuse. "I couldn't sleep."

Jack shook his head, "Me neither, son." He could have been wrong, but when he addressed his son, Danny seemed to relax a little.

Jack took a seat on the sofa and sat quietly for a few minutes. "So," he tapped his fingers together nervously, why was he so afraid to talk to his son. "Why are you watching this one?" he nodded to the show.

"Lion king was one of my favorites when I was little," Danny said, his voice void of emotion. "I just felt like watching it."

"Bad dreams?" Jack asked, his tone matching the teenager's. Danny raised an eyebrow at him, a slight smile touching his lips.

"That's perceptive of you," he replied after a few minutes. Jack returned the smile and shrugged. Danny opened his mouth to say something else, but his eyes suddenly focused on something behind Jack.

"What?" Jack asked and turned around, to see nothing there.

"I guess I'm just tired," Danny stood up and stretched. "I think I'll go back to bed. 'Night dad." As he walked past, Jack could have sworn that he could see Danny's breath...but it wasn't even that cold outside at this time of year...

xoxoxox

Danny walked into his room to see Alesha standing there, looking nervous. He quickly shut his door before looking back at her. "What's wrong?" He saw her bit her lip in the dark.

"I'm sorry about the whole scene downstairs," she said quickly. Just a few seconds after his father had seated himself, she had appeared behind him, waving her arms wildly and trying to get Danny's attention.

"That's okay," Danny waved his hand through the air. "What's going on?"

Alesha looked relieved at his words, and pointed out the window. "There's a ghost attacking downtown," she said. "I just saw, but I don't think I can take him by myself."

"Who is it?" Danny asked as the disks of light appeared at his waist once again.

"I don't know," Alesha shook her head. "But he looks rather mean...and powerful." Danny nodded and grabbed the Fenton Thermos.

"So what are we waiting for?"

* * *

I've gotten so many compliments on the dreams, that I have say thank you. I didn't think I'd get that kind of a response. :hug:

Oh, and just so you guys will know, I looked up the word "brainwashed' and that is the real definition. I wouldn't have actually known that though if you hadn't questioned me, so thanx:hug:

LaBOBruen:evillaugh: Bwahahahaha!

Seekio: No I don't have a million lackeys typing for me to get things up so fast. ;) I already had most of the chapters typed already...actually, I just caught up...So update is probably going to be slower now. sigh Thank you for reading, welcome and :hug:.


	10. Stories and Heroes

Danny got back later that night feeling more dead than ever. His whole body ached so badly that Alesha actually had to help him half way back so he didn't fall out of the sky. As soon as he touched the floor of his room, he de-transformed and fell onto his bed. He'd fallen asleep in seconds, never noticing the third figure in the room. Alesha didn't miss her, however.

"Jazz," she glanced at the red-haired girl who stood inside the closed door.

"Is he okay?" the older sister asked worriedly, taking a step towards the bed.

Alesha nodded, "Yeah, just tired."

Jazz relaxed visibly as she spoke again. "Good. What happened?"

"Why don't we go into your room to talk?" The ghost girl asked.

Jazz nodded in agreement. "Good idea." She sneaked out the door, and waited for Alesha to join her in the darkened hall. She then tip-toed quietly to her room while the ghost girl floated silently behind. When they'd reached her own neatly-organized sanctuary, she gestured for the other girl to have a seat on the only chair in the room, while she took the bed. Alesha almost had to stifle a laugh. The two siblings may not have seemed alike to anyone else, but in that moment, Danny's older sister seemed exactly like him. She acted like him, she talked like him (if a little more extravagant and intelligent in her conversations), she even thought like him. She was about to voice her observation, when sad eyes under short, black hair, and a sweet smile passed through her memory...Brian. She never opened her mouth, and any laughter in her evaporated as she took the offered seat.

"Are you okay?" Jazz asked. Alesha nodded and looked up.

"We were fighting a ghost downtown," she began to relate the story, getting her mind off of her previous thoughts. "When we got there, he'd already caused a lot of damage, so Danny went to distract him, while I went to see if anyone was hurt."

She shook her head. "I've never seen a ghost that big before...he was huge! I have no idea how he could sustain himself at all, let alone with as much energy as he had. He didn't have any eyes, only a blindfold over one side of his face, on an angle. The other side was...just blank. He had four arms and hands, that could move almost as quickly as we could, despite his size, and I think he just wanted to wreak havoc. He never spoke a word, even when Danny addressed him, but his laugh will probably haunt me...no pun intended...until I fade."

"Fade?" Jazz asked.

Alesha sighed, "I'll tell you that later. For now, let me finish the story. So, we get there, and he's throwing hunks of buildings around (fortunately I couldn't find anyone, because all the businesses were closed), and then he starts going after Danny. Danny starts shooting the guy, but it doesn't even phase him. So finally I start levitating things at him, and he turned his attention on me." She shook her head, "the only reason we were able to beat him was the fact that he only had one head...he could only focus on one of us at a time...thank heavens." Jazz nodded, encouraging the story, so Alesha continued.

"So, we both get the idea of distracting him at the same time, and Danny calls out for me to keep him busy, saying he'd be back. I was thoroughly confused, and wondered what on Earth I was supposed to do to keep this guy busy. I had to start dodging in out of buildings so he wouldn't catch me...and even then, he almost did.

"This is where it gets good," the ghost girl winked at the teenager. "So, finally, Danny comes back and starts hitting the guy with energy blasts again...and I'm wondering what good it's going to do, and why he left, when another Danny flew up beside me. He winked at me, I must have looked rather shocked, because I swear I heard him laugh before he snuck up behind the ghost. That's when he pulled out the thermos, and while the guy was distracted, Danny sucked him into the trap...although I don't think he could squeeze another ghost in there, no matter how big." Jazz smiled at the related victory.

"So he can...what, split himself or something?" she asked.

"Clone himself," Alesha nodded. "Plasmius can do it too." The conversation immediately lost it's energy at the mention of the other half-ghost, and they sat there in silence for several seconds.

Jazz broke the silence first. "So," she cleared her throat, "what happened after that?"

"Right," Alesha said, remembering where she was in the story. "So, he...uh...both of him, came back to me. I swear I've never seen such big grins, and they join back together. He almost collapsed on me then." She shook her head again. "It must have taken a lot out of him. He said he would be fine, and we started back, but half way here, I had to catch him from falling. I'm just glad he remained in ghost form. And that's how we got back here."

"Wow," Jazz smiled thoughtfully. "Don't ever tell him I said this, but Danny's my hero."

"He's your little brother," Alesha couldn't help but laugh at her remark. Jazz joined in, quietly giggling, her eyes full of mirth.

"His life changed so drastically," Jazz explained. "But no matter what, he always wants to do what's right, and he's always there to help people." Jazz shook her head. "I don't think I would be as strong as he's been."

"You never know," Alesha commented.

Jazz smiled, "We should do this more often. I enjoy talking to you." The ghost girl nodded in agreement while Jazz stifled a yawn.

"Look," Alesha stood, "why don't you go ahead and get to sleep. I'm going to sweep the town for more ghost attacks."

"Aren't you tired?" Jazz asked incredulously.

Alesha shook her head. "Ghosts don't get tired as easily as humans do." She winked at the teenager as she floated towards the window, "Good night." Jazz smiled and laid down as the other girl left. She didn't see Alesha stop and look back through the window at her relaxed form. "I understand you better than you think, Jasmine," she whispered to herself. "You're not the only one who looked up to their little brother."

* * *

For those of you reading Lost and Gained, I'm working on it right now, and I'm going to hopefully have more up tomorrow. Sorry for the wait. It may still be a few days until I get soemthing up on Traded, but I'll see what I can do.

Thanx you guys for the reviews! Hope you liked the chappie. REPLY!

InuPhantom: I don't mind you reviewing both here and DA, but I usualy do a little better writign here. I'm usualy able to review things more, and fix more mistakes, add in more details...stuff like that. :hug: Thanks though.

Celestial: I'm 21. (I know, I'm just catching up to my writing level...but hey). I usualy have an analytical (and creative...go figure), and I learn from example. The more good fics I read and/or review, the better I get, which is why I'm reading a lot of stuff right now. ; Anywho. Thanx.


	11. No

Alesha didn't know how long she'd been sitting in their...no...her lair in the ghost zone. She vaguely remembered even leaving the real world. Somehow she always ended up here, no matter how much she vowed to stay away, she ended up sitting here in the darkness on the smooth floor. None of the material covering the ground beneath ever responded to her anymore...too much sadness and anger, she knew. She didn't want to create, so she sat in the darkness of the chamber, just remembering.

At least she had the memories, she reminded herself..no matter how painful. Of course, there were some memories, she liked to avoid...like when they'd first woken up after their death that–

"No!" she said suddenly, but she couldn't stop this memory from returning, no matter how much she didn't want it to...

_Flashback_

_She groaned as she regained consciousness, desperately trying to remember what had happened...but only darkness in her mind answered her inquires. Groaning, she opened her eyes, and had to do a double take. Then she screamed. The world around her swirled with black, purple and green in nauseating, unpredictable waves and swirls. _

"_Where am I?" She shrieked. She couldn't remember anything...but this didn't seem right...it didn't seem usual. Suddenly, she realized she couldn't remember who she was. No name, no personality, no memories...this thought scared her, and caused her to start shaking. The word Amnesia floated across her mind, and she tried to take a deep breath to calm her nerves...when she realized she'd been holding her breath for several seconds. _

"_What the..." She asked herself. Of course, was holding your breath so difficult? 'Not really,' she answered her own unspoken question, but this had turned her thoughts to her own well being. She looked down, and felt her stomach, chest and arms. She felt fine...but she didn't at the same time...and a voice seemed to whisper to her that something was horribly wrong. _

_Taking another deep breath, she looked down around her, and shrieked. Air swirled and flowed beneath her, as it did everywhere else around her...and that DEFINITELY didn't seem normal. Trying to calm her queasy stomach, she closed her eyes, hoping this was a dream...but when she opened them again, the scene remained._

"_NO!" she screamed out loud, but her voice seemed different than it should be...more like a whisper and a wail at the same time. She put her hands on her throat...what the heck was going on? _

_Determined, she closed her eyes once again, and tried to remember something...anything...desperately. Darkness answered yet again, but she forced herself through it, like she swam through a veil of material, or a thick mist. _

"_YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!" She screamed at the blackness that seemed to laugh at her. "You will not!" she said again, trying to regain her composure. _

_Suddenly, a face passed before her eyes. Fear and concern, surrounded by a bright light...everything in slow motion. The face belonged to a woman...an older woman with laugh lines and a warm smile...and a firm hand. The face, even showing the characteristics that it did, calmed her down. Love and warmth connected to that face...and a name...Nora...mama. As she watched, the light overpowered the dark eyes and skin..._

"_No!" she screamed again and her eyes burst open, looking around desperately. That's when she noticed the figure floating next to her. She'd missed him somehow before, but he lay, floating gently, obviously unconscious. He looked familiar._

"_Hello," she tried to get to the boy, and found herself floating forward. Could she control this? Shaking the thought from her head, she decided to focus on one thing at a time. "Hello?" she asked again, and poked the figure gently. He responded immediately with a groan, causing her to jump back. Then he'd looked up with glowing green eyes that had seemed so unfamiliar...and yet familiar at the same time._

"_What the..." he said and shook his head. "Where am I?" He sat up, causing her to float back even more. "Who am I?" He looked over at her. "Who are you?" She could only shrug helplessly...but she knew that face..._

"_Brian..." she said simply. He stopped shaking and looked over at her._

"_That is my name..." he said uncertainly, and then more confidently. "Yes...yes I am Brian!" He grinned over at her, beaming now that he had a name. "And you're Alesha!"_

"_Alesha..." The name seemed right, but wrong at the same time...but it was all she had to go on. _

"_I remember you!" he reached forward. "You took my toy!" She blinked at him. Nothing like that came through her mind...no memories or recognition. "And the light..." he continued, putting a hand on his head._

"_I don't know what happened," Alesha shook her head, trying once again to clear it. A high laugh suddenly sounded behind her, and they turned around to see a formless mass of dark mist floating behind them._

_It started to drift towards them. "New recruits are so funny!" the squeaky voice came from the black fog, and sent shivers up Alesha's spine. "They never know...what did they expect?" She giggled, her voice full of malice._

"_Who are you?" Alesha asked softly, making sure she stayed between the mist and her brother...wait! He was her brother! She had a brother...a younger brother! The mist continued to laugh at her._

"_You can call me mischief. Normally I don't mind telling lies, but the truth in this matter will gain a much better reaction."_

"_I don't know what you're–"_

"_Don't you get it!" the voice interrupted. "You're DEAD!" It giggled cruelly again. "You've passed on! You're spirits!"_

"_W-what do you mean?" she heard Brian ask, obviously in as much shock as he was. The fog only laughed and disappeared._

"_Dead?" Alesha said slowly...the word seemed to melt her lips together. None of her body wanted to respond...or her spirit...for she knew the fog told the truth... "No..."_

_End Flashback_

Alesha felt a hot tear land on her hand, but couldn't see for the darkness still surrounding her.

"Back again?" a voice behind her mocked. She'd long since learned not to respond to it.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" she asked wearily.

The voice laughed. "Leave you alone?" it asked. "That is far less spirited than your normal response. Are you well Alesha?"

"You know the answer to that question," she responded coldly.

"You had the chance to finish him off," the voice whispered harshly, suddenly close to her. "Why didn't you do what you were sent to do?"

"Because," she whispered back, her own voice just as harsh. "I want him to know when it happens." She turned around and glared up at the tanned figure. "I want him to feel it...I want him to be just as hurt as I have been when he dies!

At that moment, blue eyes popped open, and Daniel Fenton sat up in bed, gasping for breath.

* * *

CC12: Yes, it is just like the comic, becausethis is based on the comic Idrew. ;

DNoA: Someone else brought that one up. To tell the truth, it was one of the first Disney movies that came to my head when I was writing it...but it was alter pointed out to me that It works really well for the "spoiled" Father/Son moment too...

CtH: Well thank you, and happy birthday:hug:

qwest: Well...that was quite the review...wow. Thank you for going back to read Deception. :hug: I have a hard time doing that when I come into a series. As for my art pics, here's a description for what I do: I usually go to photoshop and have it scanned in so I can see all the details (doesn't have to look good). Then I create two or three new, blank layers. The first new layer is my color and shading layer, the second one is the outlining layer (third also outlining layer if there are different sized lines or what not). So, I outline it with several paths on my pen tool, and then stroke the paths (right click) with a #1 pencil. Then, on the second layer, I stroke all the paths with a #4 or#5 paintbrush (again, right click...or you can just click on the paintbrush tool).

I then color the bottom new layer, shade it (with more pen tool paths if necissary (sp?)) either four or five shades lighter, or two or three shades darker (that one's a style issue. You can adapt it to your own style). If an aura is required, I duplicate the outline layer, and paint-bucket the color I want it. Then I go to the filter on the menu, and styalize, and diffuse. An information block will come up. Make sure it's on Light only, and then diffuse it about seven or eight times (depending on the size of the pictrue...etc). Then I blur it until I get the right look for the aura.

After that, I use various tools for a desired effect in the background, and Voila. Hope that helps.


	12. First Fight

Next day after school

As soon as Jack heard the door slam, he knew something was wrong, but he still couldn't lather up the courage to turn and face his wife as she regarded him. He could feel her eyes burrowing into his back, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

"Jack, why did you do that?" she asked, her quiet voice quivering in anger. Jack shook his head, and finally forced himself to face her for the first time in days.

"Do what?" was all he could manage to say.

"You told me that Danny needed to be picked up from school. Well, I just spent the last hour and a half driving around, trying to find him. I walked around the school for half an hour before I went to the office and had him paged. Then I waited for another twenty minutes, totally panicking, by the way." Jack could only stare in confusion as her tiny feet clicked slowly and menacingly across the lab's metal floor. "So, I decide to go to his friends' houses. I couldn't get Mrs. Foley to stop talking, and when I finally do, the RV dies on me at the next stop light. Finally, I was able to get it started again, and head over to the Manson's, where he's been the entire time.

"Then," she continued, her voice still shaking with frustration, "he tells me that he told you he'd be there if we needed him."

"Yes, he did," Jack confirmed. Maddie threw her hands up in the air.

"THEN WHY DID YOU SEND ME ON THAT WILD GOOSE CHASE!" She said, trying unsuccessfully to keep her voice down. After seething for a few moments, she stopped and looked up at him with large, sad eyes. "Did you really want to get me out of here that badly?"

"No," the large man said immediately. "I don't remember telling you to go get him."

"I found this note," she held it up for him to look at. It definitely looked like his handwriting, and they both knew it.

"But..." he said, taking the note and looking it over, as if it would disappear if he looked hard enough. "But...I never wrote this."

"Then who did," Maddie crossed her arms.

"I don't know," Jack sighed, and let the piece of paper flutter to the ground. He couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes, trying to keep away the images of the dream that haunted him far more than any ghost ever could.

"Jack, we need to talk about this!" Maddie said, almost desperately. Jack simply walked back to his instruments, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"Maddie," he said slowly, "I...I just need a little time to myself right now, okay?" She didn't answer for several seconds, but the silence seemed to thicken...why couldn't he breathe?

"Fine," she finally broke the pressure with a voice that could have frozen water. "Find your time tonight, on the couch. You haven't seemed to like our room much lately anyway."

"Maddie, wait," her husband turned with an outstretched hand, only to see her vanish around the corner at the top of the stairs. His head hung in defeat, and he turned half-heartedly back to his project. For some reason, he couldn't get himself interested, and his mind kept wandering. He didn't notice the one or two tears that escaped his cheek. Nor did he hear his wife slam the door to their room before the sobs broke through her throat.

* * *

Sorry guys, but I was uploading this and the site totaly screwed, and I've alerady deleated all of the e-mails. So...no personal notes this time. Thank you again for waiting and reading. I'm sorry it's taken so long, but my block is finally gone. :D I should have more up soon. Thanx again.


	13. Attacked and Betrayed again

No one found it particularly easy to live in the household for the next few days. Maddie and Jack rarely talked to each other, and Maddie started spending more and more time away from home. Even Jazz found it hard to stay positive in the atmosphere of the house.

Several days after the "van" incident, as it had been named, Danny walked into his room. He felt completely exhausted, and very thankful that his father had left for the Ghost Hunters convention earlier that day. He didn't know if he could take more of the yelling. It almost seemed like his parents couldn't stop yelling at each other, and things just seemed to be getting worse. Something would disappear, and everything would start, beginning with the accusations and ending in a downright fight. Or something wouldn't get done, and Danny would shut himself in his room to drown out the screaming. It was like they all had time bombs strapped to their brains, and no-one could truly escape it. He felt like he had gone from the frying pan and into the fire, with only a brief rest...and he knew it would start to show very soon, if it hadn't already. The depression had started to come back, and he didn't know how to fight it...again.

xoxoxox

Alesha looked around at the shattered remnants of the life she had known, not knowing wether to smile or cry. She felt torn up...and it all lead back to that stupid half-ghost boy. Well, the time had come...he would know vengeance now. She left for the real world with that thought crossing her mind, but no smile ever threatened to touch her lips.

xoxoxox

Sighing, Danny looked around the room and waited to breathe the blue mist that warned him of ghosts in the vicinity. It took a few minutes, but he did start to see his breath.

"Alesha?" he asked, looking around excitedly. This had become the routine since she'd showed up. He found himself looking forward to spending time with any of his friends, and that included her–ghost or not. "Alesha...?" He finally saw her come floating through the wall, head down, and hands behind her back. She progressed slowly, and Danny immediately felt the situation had already gone terribly wrong.

"Alesha?" he advanced, his hand out towards her. "What's wrong?"

"You are," she said quietly, "you took away everything...Brian is gone because of you!" She looked up slowly, and Danny backed away. Her eyes glowed a deep, crimson red, and she began to advance on him. Since when did she feel this way about him? There had been no hints, no clues...nothing!

"Alesha, what are you talking about?" Danny asked. "Alesha..."

"I am talking about justice," she replied. "I am talking about doing to you what you deserve for what you did to me."

"What?" he asked, half out of confusion, half out of concern and fear. 'Transform,' he told himself, but before he could even put his hands in the air, she shot a blast of spectral energy at him, and the last thing he remembered before blackness took him was the thought that she had betrayed him, again.


	14. An Eye for and Eye

Okay, I'm sorry I screwed up the last chapter. I put in the first draft of this chapter...so please forgive the confusion. If the first of this chapter looks familiar, go back and read the last chapter (because I fixed it, and it will make a LOT more sense. Once again, sorry about the confusion)

So...I haven't gotten any reviews...is anyone still reading this?

* * *

Jazz trudged up the stairs, trying desperately to keep her smile. She had to stay strong, if only because she was the strong one...wasn't she? She didn't know anymore. Her parents fighting like this suddenly had begun to tear her world apart. She hadn't realized how the constant of their relationship had truly kept all of their lives together.

Still, people went through things this all the time, and she had no room to talk. They would either work themselves out, or they wouldn't...and there really wasn't anything she could do about it, except help Danny.

Her thoughts immediately took on the pitying and heartache she felt for her little brother. He'd just escaped a horrible existence...and that's what she'd gotten only from what he'd been able to tell her.

She stepped onto the landing with a sigh, and looked over at Danny's door. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, and went to continue to her own sanctuary, when a loud thump and muffled voices attracted her attention. Not really knowing what to think, she strode quickly to the door, and knocked.

"Danny?" she asked. No one answered...but something didn't feel right. Trying to push her feelings of worry and warning aside, she opened the door, peeked in, and gasped.

"Go away, Jazz," Alesha said from her position, floating above the unconscious form of her brother with a look that could only be described at hate.

"Alesha...what...?" she couldn't seem to get more words out.

"I'm just giving your brother a little pay back," she said, without so much as a hint of a smile. "I like you, and I don't want you to get involved. Please, go."

"What do you...what...but...?" For the first time in years, Jasmine Fenton could not think of any words to describe the situation before her that could work through confusion that clouded her brain. "Why?" She finally voiced.

Alesha floated towards her, causing her to take a step backwards. "Do you know what happened?" the ghost girl hissed menacingly. "Do you?" Jazz didn't dare answer...she felt frozen, as if her body wouldn't listen to her mind. "He chose to save his friend over my brother. He uses his powers in selfish, power-hungry ways! He's just like Plasmius, and HE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE TO EXIST!"

"What do you mean, selfish?" Jazz asked, finally breaking through her shock and fear. "Yeah, he chose to save Tucker, because Vlad tricked him into a position where he COULD NOT save your brother! He TRIED!"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?" Alesha screamed.

"How do you?" Jazz answered calmly. Alesha advanced on her more, but this time Jazz stood her ground, briefly wondering why Maddie didn't hear them. "Who told you what happened?" She continued. "Who told you anything? Vlad Masters? One of his lackeys? All of whom, by the way, HATE Danny!" Alesha didn't answer, but her jaw set, showing her refusal to back down.

"What about how he uses his powers?" She said finally. "I've SEEN him overshadow people for his own gain–"

"How many times?" Jazz interrupted. "Once, twice...a handful maybe? In comparison, how often does he actually sacrifice his own personal life to protect the people of this town? Do you realize that with him gone, Amnity Park almost fell into chaos? If it hadn't been for one or two resident Ghost Hunters, I don't think we'd have had ANY hope! We are dependant on my brother for protection, and how selfish would it be of you take that away from us?" Jazz had advanced on the other girl until they now stood literally nose to nose.

"He deserves to DIE!" Alesha said with a large gesture. "No...worse! He deserves OBLITERATION!"

Jazz stared at her for several moments before she looked down and crossed her arms, suddenly looking small. "So..." she said so softly that Alesha had to strain to hear her. "You are going to do to me, what Plasmius forced him to do to you?" For several seconds a thick layer of silence settled onto the room, broken only by the breathing of the two living occupants.

Jazz looked up to see Alesha staring at her, a hatred burning in the now red eyes, but realization had set in. She knew what Jazz had said was true, and she hated it...and yet part of her seemed...relieved. They stood, looking at each other for what seemed like forever, before a large groan caused them to turn to look at Danny.

"Danny I–" Jazz started towards him, but Alesha grabbed her arm, holding her back in an icy, iron grip."

"I want you to know, ghost boy," Alesha growled at him, "that your sister just saved your entire pathetic existence." Danny looked up at them, confusion and betrayal written all over his face. Then, Jazz felt the cool hand melt into her body, and a kind of daze settle over her. Then, her own mouth moved, and she heard herself talk with Alesha's voice. "She saved your life, and you will never see her again."

With that Jazz launched herself through the window, then she phased back and through the wall. The world still seemed fuzzy, but she recognized the lab, and her mother's own limp form that lay, obviously unconscious on the floor in front of the porthole. Jazz felt her hand being moved, and she felt it brush the button that opened the ghost zone.

By the time Danny had turned ghost, and followed them, they had long since vanished into the swirling, green vortex.


	15. Bright Green Eyes

The three Fentons that remained in the house sat around, miserably staring at the swirling, green porthole. When Danny had tracked Alesha and Jazz through the walls and into the basement, they were nowhere to be found. He even ventured into the Ghost Zone, but found no further traces of them. After that, he'd gone back to help his mother, in human mode. Not minutes after she'd woken up, Jack had come downstairs, and Danny related the story...well, most of it, considering that he wasn't sure how they would react to his "secret". After all, a ghost had just kidnaped their daughter.

Now he sat at Sam's house, with her and Tucker trying to comfort him...well...Tucker was.

"I told you she was bad news!" Sam seethed as she paced around him. It made Danny dizzy to watch, so he put his head into his hands. "Didn't I tell you that!" the Goth Girl threw her hands into the air.

Tucker nodded with a sigh, answering for Danny. "Yeah, you did."

"I can't believe she played me the entire time," Danny moaned in a muffled voice, through the hands that covered his face. "She said I'd never see Jazz again...as payback for me killing her brother."

"But you didn't," Tucker and Sam said unanimously.

Danny put his head down even further. "She apparently doesn't believe that."

"But she wasn't there!" Sam interjected. "How could she–"

"On the other hand," Danny cut her off, and looked up through pained eyes into hers. "How can you be sure of what happened? You weren't there...you simply went with my word."

"I remember it...vaguely," Tucker said softly.

Danny shook his head, "but not enough to be 100 percent sure, right?"

"Dude," his African-American friend looked slightly offended, "we trust you!"

"Yeah," Sam growled, "why can't she?"

"I don't know," Danny sighed. He kept playing both scenes over and over in his mind. First, the scene where Alesha jumped into Jazz and flew away, phasing through everything (which had surprised him, until he realized that if he could touch people and make them go intangible, why couldn't she do the same INSIDE a body), throwing him off for just a few seconds. He'd actually believed that she'd gone deeper into the city. After a few moments, however, he'd realized that she would be heading for the nearest escape, which meant the Fenton Portal. But 'd arrived only to see his mother sprawled on the floor, and the green eerie light from the Ghost Zone casting a creepy feeling over the silent scene. Could he have done anything different to stop her? He kept asking himself...

'Yeah,' Part of him said in a sarcastic tone. 'You could have not trusted her. Never trust a ghost, remember?'

Sighing, Danny pushed these thoughts away, only to see the other scene come racing across his brain. Vlad flying out of his best friend, and him trying to catch Tucker before everyone in the room became obliterated, trying to move his arms and reach both his friend, and the ghost boy at the center of everything. He couldn't move them though...he tried desperately, but to no avail. He could only yell to his friend, who grabbed his ankle as they headed through the wall...and then, he looked down to see two bright green eyes...

Suddenly, a thought came to him. "Hey guys...what if she was told wrong?" he asked.

"What?" they looked at him.

"Think about it," he stood up and began pacing. "The only other people who were actually there to witness everything was Vlad and Brian...and maybe one or two of Vlad's minions..." Sam and Tucker exchanged glances before returning their gaze to him.

Sam spoke first. "So, where did that thought come from?" she asked.

"Yeah, man," Tucker agreed. "That sounded a little deep for you..." Danny stopped pacing and turned towards his friends with a shrug.

"I...don't know..."

"But if that's right," Sam said, unwilling to finish the sentence. Her anger at the ghost girl seemed to be suddenly ripped away. "Why couldn't she just trust you?"

"Because," Danny sat down, "She was told something over and over again...until she finally believed it."

"What?" his friends once again voiced their thought in unison.

Danny shook his head. "That homework assignment we had a few days ago, the one with all the definitions."

"You think she's been brainwashed?" Sam asked skeptically. Danny looked away for a few seconds, once again seeing those green eyes before the blinding flash. They looked almost exactly like those belonging to his sister's kidnapper...and with that memory, the assurance seemed to come as well. Danny couldn't explain it, he could only trust it.

"No," he looked back at her heather colored eyes. "I'm sure of it."

* * *

I got several questions as to how Alesha could phase Jazz though walls...well, Danny can...so I'm assuming that Alesha can too. shrug made sense to me. Sorry if you disagree.

Dark Ninja: 14? sigh Dang it. I shall strive to do better.

Lavanderpaw: No worries. I just like a little feedback every now and then. :hug:

LaBOBruen: Yeah, I used to put stuff up on first draft. shutter Now you see why I don't. ;) I'm not a Fenton Family hater! What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and I like characters to be strong...so I have them conquer the theological plain of eternal torment. ;)

Thanx again for all the remarks guys. :hug: I appreciate it.


	16. Beginning to search

"So..." Sam said slowly, "what do we do?" At this, Danny shrugged.

"That's my stroke of genius for the next hundred years," he muttered. It felt true. He wasn't known for his smarts...that was Jazz's area. Just thinking that brought him back to the situation again. For a few moments he'd had a glimmer of hope...but he didn't even know where to look...

"Wait," Danny sat up, "maybe not." Sam and Tucker exchanged glances again.

Tucker got up from the beanbag with some difficulty, and walked cautiously towards him. "Are you feeling alright, man?" he asked, half serious, half as a joke. Danny ignored the comment.

"I need you to find every car accident crash that happened near lighthouses in the last 10 years," he pointed at the dark skinned boy.

"Okay..." Sam said slowly, "Why?"

"Alesha said that she only remembered two things...Her mother, and a bright light ahead of them when they were in a car. She insisted they'd just passed a lighthouse, and she said that Brian agreed."

Tucker raised an eyebrow. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Because," Danny sighed. "It's a start. She might have gone back to the scene of her death." Sam looked impressed, and Tucker was already tapping on the small, hand-held computer. "Meanwhile," the half-ghost stood, and the two, blue rings grew from his waist again. "I'm going to go and check their home in the Ghost Zone."

"Good idea," Sam nodded.

"I don't know how to get there from here..." Danny gulped. "So I may be gone for a while. Could one of you call my parents and ask them about a sleep over?"

"Sure, man," Tucker shrugged without looking up from his hand-held computer. "Just come back to my house when you're done. My parents won't be too upset."

"Great," Danny grinned. "I'll see you guys later."

Sam walked over to the window after he'd flown out. "You'd better be careful!" She yelled out to him. He turned and flashed a grin.

"I will!" He promised.

xoxoxox

It took him several hours to get to Lake Michigan, and this was the first time that he'd actually flown for more than 45 minutes in one direction. Half the time, he didn't even know if he was headed in the right direction. After an hour, he'd stopped at a gas station, detransformed, and bought a map along with a few snacks. Then he realized he had indeed veered off course, and quickly readjusted. He had to do that several times, but as the day faded, he could see the humongous body of water gleaming in the light of the setting sun. He'd already seen several other smaller ponds and lakes, but he'd forgotten how big this lake was compared to all of them.

He rested for several minutes about a mile away from the water's edge, finished his snacks, and tried to figure out how to get to the point where Alesha had found the natural porthole. Then he realized with a sigh, that he didn't know HOW to find it. He hit his head with the palm of his hand. How could he forget something that vital?

"Looks like I'm gonna have to learn," he grunted to himself and stood up. He began an ectoplasmic charge, figuring that was a place to start...but she'd said that it would feel different...not destructive.

"But you can use your powers to search as well as attack and defend," her words rang in his mind as if she were standing right beside him. He sighed. Didn't he have few enough friends without losing those he had so horribly?

Could he even do this? He didn't know. The only time he'd used his powers for something other than attack and defense had been at her place in the ghost zone...

"Hmmm," he said to himself, and dropped the charge in his hands. Instead, he focused on the feeling he'd had there. It took him a while for his powers to react, but they did finally. They came, with a far more positive charge then he ever felt when he used blasts and shields. "This is strange," he muttered to himself as he looked at his glowing hands. "I hope that's what I need..."

With that, he launched himself in the direction where he hoped the porthole could be found.


	17. Responsability

Danny was barely able to keep aloft at quarter to two in the morning, when he finally felt a reaction to his searching. Almost thinking he had imagined it, he looked down at his hands, and then into the distance. A glowing green light met his eyes, if only barely, and he couldn't help but feel pride and a touch of hope rise in his chest at the sight.

"Finally," he yawned and flew towards the light. When he reached it, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and reached out to touch it. Instantly, he felt himself transported to the Ghost Zone, and looked back to see the familiar porthole-like door that looked out at the lake. He'd found the right door.

Too tired to do anything but grin proudly, he turned and flew away from the porthole. He knew where he was going now.

xoxoxox

Danny saw the darkened purple door, and immediately knew things were far worse than he had expected. Deep gashes now graced the once flawless ectoplasmic wood. With a growing sense of dread twisting his stomach into knots, he floated warily to the door and turned the handle.

Darkness greeted him, almost seeming to absorb any of the eerie light seeping in from the ghost zone. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside, and closed the door, so no one could see him. He had a feeling that whatever would be discovered in here shouldn't be spread around the ghost zone, although he didn't really know what would make "the front page" so to speak.

Taking a deep breath, he held up an ectoplasmic light in his hand, and looked around. At first he couldn't see anything, and then the small lights around the room from before began to glow, illuminating the enormous, cave-like room.

As the sight became more and more clear, Danny felt his breath catch in his throat. When he'd come here before, there had been large, graceful sculptures made from the material covering the walls, floor and ceiling. Now, nothing but broken and shattered remains met his gaze. Almost every statue had been destroyed, and now lay in shattered pieces of what looked like liquid glass scattered across the floor.

Suddenly, his dream came to mind, and he immediately knew that it hadn't been just a dream. Her feelings and emotions had been so strong, that even though he hadn't really seen them, he'd picked up on it subconsiously. Jazz's psycho babble suddenly made a lot more sense as the words came to his mind. He'd been listening to her too much, he thought grimly.

A shiver suddenly ran up and down his spine as he looked around. A general feeling of hatred and pain now filled the once peaceful room, partly due to the shattered remains, and partly due to the one statue that remained standing.

He slowly floated forward, looking at the statue in shock. It had been the one she had helped him make...and it had been drastically altered. Sharp spikes now stuck through it, impaling it at several points, and it too had been shattered in many places. Harsh words had been randomly written all over and around it, hitting too close to home for simple vandalism to apply.

Alesha herself had done this, Danny knew...but why? He couldn't understand why she'd destroy anything that reminded her of her brother... Jazz would know. He sighed, his heart filling with an empathetic pain for his former friend. Despite everything he knew, he was beginning to blame himself for what happened...

Throwing the thoughts far away, he finally turned and left, in a stupor, and floated aimlessly through the ghost zone. He ran into very few ghosts, and most either ignored him, or gave him wide berth. He didn't care, he could only keep the situation running through his mind, numbing his body.

'So who is really responsible for all this?' he asked himself. 'Me? Alesha? Obviously Vlad...because he started it all.' The thoughts just kept coming, like a flood gate had been opened, and he couldn't stop it. Suddenly he realized that if he really wanted to get to the root of everything, his father had a large part of responsibility for giving Vlad the powers in the first place. If it hadn't been for his stupid obsession... Danny suddenly stopped as the realization of his current train of thoughts hit him. Perhaps he himself wasn't blameless, and neither was Alesha really...but the two people ultimately responsible for all of this, were Vlad, and his father.

A cold anger began to gather inside him. "I swear I will never be so obsessed," he vowed to himself suddenly. If this was the kind of pain that obsessions caused, then he would have no part in them. "Not with ghosts, not with ghost hunting, not with ANYTHING." He would hold himself to that promise. He would. No matter what.

With a new determination, he finally got directions to his own porthole, and flew off in that direction, his mind focusing firmly for the first time in what seemed like forever.

* * *

Finally! phew I got another chappie up...but I'm working through writers block at the moment, so sorry for the suckiness. sigh

LaBOBruen: Do I torture them because I love them? Yes. Do I do that to everyone I love. Heck no!


	18. Strongest possibility

When Danny got to Tucker's house, he zonked on the extra bed in the attic, asleep immediately. His friends parents rarely came up here, so if he needed to get out of there fast, it was the ideal place.

Tucker woke him up the next morning by yelling Danny's name. The half ghost immediately sat up, and then promptly fell through the bed, landing with a glare at his friend, who doubled over laughing...as if nothing in the last few weeks had happened.

When Tucker recognized the glare, he stopped, and then shuffled his feet in the dust uncomfortably.

"So," he said finally. "Did you find anything?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Danny sighed and stood up. "How about you?"

"Why don't we exchange info downstairs? I already called Sam, and she said she'd be right over."

Danny stretched and covered a yawn with his hand. "What time is it?" he asked.

"Almost 10:20," Tucker replied as he headed down the stairs. "You may want to come in through the front door though." Danny nodded, catching his drift, and phased out of the wall, landing gently beside his house, and walking around casually as he ran a hand through his messy bed hair.

Sam arrived shortly thereafter, and they locked themselves in Tuckers room to exchange information. Danny quickly related his story, leaving all three of them in a somber mood.

"You're lucky she didn't kill you," Sam said softly.

"That's what Jazz did, I think," Danny replied in an equally quiet voice. No one said anything for several seconds, and finally Danny shattered the silence.

"So what did you two get?"

Sam and Tucker exchanged looks before Tucker held up a picture of a girl Alesha's age with her hair done up into several curled and braided pigtails. She sat next to an African-American woman and man, who stood behind them both with a hand on the older woman's shoulder.

"Is that...?" Danny asked. Tucker nodded. "It took us forever to find them, because they've been dead for more than 10 years...and that's how long you asked me to look back."

"How long ago was this?" Danny asked, looking up at them.

"We don't know when the picture was taken," Sam spoke up. "But that went along with this picture," she handed him a picture of a little boy with a toothy grin, "and this story." She handed him a print out of a newspaper article, and he skimmed over it.

Tucker decided to summarize it for him. "Basically, a family was coming back from a tour on a lighthouse, and a drunk driver caused them to roll off the road. The father was thrown from the car...which saved his life, because the car rolled off of the cliff, killing everyone in it."

"That would be the woman, the girl, and the boy..." Sam interjected.

"Who was a cousin that they had adopted," Tucker added.

"But," Danny looked up from the paper, "It says here that their names were Nora N., Masrha A. and Lars B. Evans. That's not their names."

"But Alesha," Sam almost spat the girls name out, "said she couldn't remember anything but her mother's name and face. Why couldn't these be the same people?"

Danny bit his lip and looked down at the brown eyes staring back at him. "I guess there's only one way to find out," he whispered.

* * *

Sorry it's been so long guys. Hope you liked this chappy...sorry if it's a little choppy. Forgive? Reply!


	19. Excuses

The trio knew that Danny's little mission might take several days, especially if this lead, no matter how coincidental, turned out to be false or a dead end (when Tucker said that, he immediately started laughing. It took both Sam and Danny a few seconds to recognize the pun, and the techno-geek spent the next several minutes trying to duck away from Sam's punches. Both of them couldn't help but notice Danny's faint smile, where he would have laughed out loud at the beginning of the school year, if not joined in. It sobered both of them very quickly). They knew that they had to come up with an excuse for both the school and his parents.

The Fentons, he knew, would probably be easier to fool than his teachers, but he hated having to lie to them again. He knew that this could blow up in his face VERY easily, and if anyone did find out, it would not help his parents edgy relationship or his school standing.

Finally, they decided to wait a few days to approach his parents, and get a forged note for his teachers telling them about his "trip" for counseling with Dr. Billing in New York…who they made up.

As Danny left Sam's house that day with the note in his pocket, he couldn't help but dwell bitterly on the thought that this whole thing started when he tried to stop all the lies and deception. The thought only hardened his resolve to tell his parents. When they calmed down, he would. He would.

xoxox

The atmosphere in the Fenton household felt nothing short of dead now, reminding more than one family member of the eerie silence that accompanied any venture into ghost zone. It seemed as if a blanket had been shoved down around them, like a physical force that actually kept the family from interacting. It often felt real enough to cut through, and Danny found he compared the situation to magnets bouncing away from each other in a polarized field, like he'd seen in Science class.

His school bought the note situation without question, but he found himself dreading the weekend, knowing that he had to face his parents…and then the mission would start. Would he find Jazz or Alesha? Would he find anything at all that might lead him to them? He didn't look forward to confronting his friend, but he knew he had to try, especially if it meant saving his sister.

Once again, time seemed to creep by, but the days passed all too quickly. Finally, he found himself walking up to his father's slumped form as the older man worked on something with a scary single mindedness that Danny had rarely seen before.

With a deep breath and a gulp, he tapped his father on the shoulder, causing him to jump with a yelp. This didn't help Danny at all, and he too jolted back with a gasp.

"Sorry, Danny," Jack said as he regained his composure. "Is there something you wanted?"

Once again, Danny gulped but quickly put on a smile to hide his nervousness. "It's nothing really," man, he hated to lie. "There's just an overnight field trip, and I wanted to know if you'd let me go." He handed the larger man a permission slip that Sam had typed up for him that morning.

"Overnight at a museum, huh?" he grinned at Danny. "I remember my first trip to the museum. That's where I met your mother…" he suddenly faded off as the tangible, uncomfortable and invisible force that had kept them apart all week settled over the room again.

"So," Danny said tentatively, "Can I go?"

Jack shook his head, as if jolted out of his thoughts. "Of course you can, son. As long as you promise to call us every night you're gone." He looked over the paper. "Two nights? I"ll see you Saturday night."

"Thanks dad," Danny said as he grabbed the paper and rushed upstairs to pack.

He walked out the door the next day with a larger than usual back pack, and started for the bus stop…but he never got there.

* * *

Darlklite Spirit--I don't know if your'e reading this, because I only got a response from deception, but I wanted to say thanx...and no I do not remember you, but that's because I don't know where to remember you from...as in which web site, or have I met you irl? Thank you for your review.

Blossoming Orange Rose: Well thank you:hug: I appreciate all of your input, a lot. I have some problems with spaces for some reason, but I really think it's my computer's connection to the internet... gives me grief sometimes. Anywho, thanks again. I look forward to more reviews. ;hug:

PhantomAlchamist: Thank you indeed. I truely appreciate that, and I appreciate you reading my other story(ies) too. :hug:

Cakerut12: Well, another long wait...forgive again:hug: Thanx hon.

BluishBlackDolphin: What exactly don't you get?

Thank you to everyone else who forgave me as well, and I'm sorry that it once again too so long. I will try to be faster with the next chapter, and I'm sorry this was a little boreing.


	20. Mr Evans

"So far, so good," Danny whispered to himself as he phased through the sides of the plane and floated down towards the roads below to see if he'd gotten off at the right place. Tucker had outlined everything the night before, telling him which plane to hitch a ride on, and how long to wait until he got off. According to his friend's calculations, he should get off the plane a few miles away from the town where the remaining survivor of the family now lived.

At first he'd questioned the morals of hitching a ride on the plane without a ticket, until Sam pointed out that he needed to get back as quickly as possible to avoid suspicion, not to mention that the sooner he could get to Jazz, the better. So, reluctantly, he'd agreed.

Now he just needed to find a road sign and a way to get to the address Tucker had given him.

" Ohio," he muttered, "Why couldn't it have been closer to home?" The only other time he'd ever flown this far, had been when he'd gone to Lake Michigan, and that had taken him…well…way too long in any case. At least he didn't feel so tired this time.

It took him a while to find the town he was looking for, but the real challenge proved to be finding the house. After a full two hours of searching, he finally stepped up to the home of John Evans.

It sat nestled among old trees and shrubs in a rural area with lots of acreage, and several animal corrals scattered here and there, leading up to the few visible houses from the road. Mr. Evan's household, however only had one empty chicken pen, and except for the small, overgrown lawn in front, the land surrounding it sprouted in untamed growth. All in all, it looked desolate and reclusive.

"Well," he muttered to himself, running a hand through his now black hair nervously. "Here goes nothing." And with that, he rang the doorbell.

After a few minutes, the door cracked open, and an older man with extremely dark skin peered through, his white eyes a bright contrast to the tired wrinkles that threatened his aging face. Danny knew from the report that he couldn't be more than 45, but he looked into his late 50's. Then again, he hadn't given his name. What if Mr. Evans had moved in with a brother or something?

"Who are you?" the man asked, his gruff, muffled voice laced with a wary curiosity.

"Er," Danny put on a grin, "I'm Danny Fenton, and I…was wondering if I could ask you...or…er…Mr. Evans a few questions."

The man's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What questions?"

"About your family?" The man blinked several times and opened the door wider.

"Why would you want to know?"

"I…er…uh…" Danny stuttered for a second before he blurted out, "It's for a report."

The man only looked more confused. "What kind of report?"

"Er…For…local survivors of deadly accidents," the teen nodded, hoping his smile didn't look too fake.

"Oh," the man sighed, looking suddenly resigned and tired. "Well, come in then."

"Thanks," Danny said unsurely. His parents warning voices started ringing through his head about never going into a stranger's house alone…but if worst came to worse, he could simply phase out of the house and get his information in some other way…he hoped.

The old living room he stepped into smelled faintly like the Casper High boys locker room, and the dark paneling looked as if it had seen better days. Many boxes, among other things, had been stacked or stuffed into corners and tight places, and (by the looks of the thick layer of dust covering them) forgotten. Still, the room looked clean, with the exception of one or two things lying on an old coffee table or the corner of the single, dark brown couch.

Mr. Evans (Danny assumed this was indeed the man he was looking for) ran a hand over his graying hair, and plopped into an old arm chair across from the television before gesturing to the couch.

"Have a seat," he said, his voice literally screaming that he was not looking forward to this. Danny nodded and walked in front of the muted television as his host turned it off completely and faced the younger man.

"Ask away," he muttered loudly.

"Er…" Danny cautiously sat down. "First, I want to say thanks for doing this."

Mr. Evans waved his hand as if to swipe away the comment. "No problem." Danny highly doubted it was "no problem", but he knew he had to do this.

"Um, I'm here to…er…just get the story on what happened that night."

"Just what the newspaper reported," Mr. Evans slouched in his chair. "We'd been to visit a lighthouse earlier that day, and were on our way home, when a drunk driver hit us. I woke up in the hospital several days later only to find out that every other person involved in the accident was dead." He paused for a minute, closing his eyes and shaking his head as if in pain. "Including the driver of the other car and his girlfriend."

"I'm sure that was unpleasant," Danny whispered, trying unsuccessfully to put himself in the same situation.

"More like heart-wrenching and horrific," the man mumbled before continuing. "After therapy and all of the legal crap, I moved around a few times, and finally settled here."

"I see," Danny nodded and looked down.

Mr. Evans suddenly focused on Danny. "Aren't you going to write this down or something?"

"Oh, er…right," Danny said, and pulled out a scrap piece of paper and a pen from his backpack. "Um…what were the names of…everyone else involved?"

"The last name of the drunk driver was Johnson. I forget his first name. His girlfriend's name was Jenny. Then my…" he paused again, obviously not used to recalling these upsetting memories. "My wife, Nora, my daughter Marsha and my adopted son Lars. We adopted him after my brother and his wife drowned. He survived and rescue crew found him half frozen, but alive, for all the good it did him." He looked up sadly. "All three of them died when the car rolled off a nearby cliff. It wasn't even that high," his voice dropped to a mumble again.

"Er…were those their…full names?" Danny prompted, hoping to get some sort of hint that he was on the right track with this lead. He hadn't really learned anything he didn't already know.

"Hmm?" Mr. Evans looked up, pulled out of his thoughts. "Oh, it's funny you should mention that. Marsha and Lars had been calling each other by their middle name for several days because of some game Lars learned at school. She had been so thrilled to get a brother…" he faded off yet again. "12 years ago next month…"

"So," Danny smiled, "what were their middle names."

"Marsha Alesha Evans and Lars Brian Evans." Danny felt the color drain from his face.

"Alesha and Brian?" he felt his voice whisper before shaking his head and forcing the smile back onto his face. "Well, that's all the questions I have…except one," he added hurriedly. "Where did the accident happen?"

"Didn't you find that in the newspaper or wherever you got your information?"

"Er…" Danny wracked his brain, but nothing came to mind. "I…just…have to verify the information," and the fake smile was back.

Mr. Evans nodded. "It happened a few miles south of Split Rock Lighthouse, in Minnesota."

"Well," Danny stood up, "Thank you for helping me out." The older man simply nodded, looking more tired and aged than ever. He didn't move, but laid a hand across his wrinkled, dark blue shirt. "I'll…let myself out. Thanks again!" Danny smiled again and walked quickly to the door. Just as he reached it, Mr. Evans stood as if coming out of a trance, and turned after his guest…just in time to see Danny phase absentmindedly out the door.

The man stood with wide eyes and a slack jaw at the point where Danny had disappeared for several minutes before shaking his head and walking to the kitchen. "I've gotta lay off the fast food," he muttered to himself.

Outside, Danny took out his cell phone, and tramped through the bushes around the side of the house before going ghost. He hit the send button as he launched himself into the air heading towards the nearest town.

"Hello?" Tucker's voice answered him.

"Tucker? I need you to look up Split Rock Light House and get me all the information you can."

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Cakruet12: Well...you'll just have to see won't you? ;)

Darklite: So who were you? And I'm really glad you liked this. :D :hug: Thanx. The third one will start when this one ends...and it will start on a similar note that Return of the Jedi started on...although more bleak if I can help it.

Asilla: Sorry about the long wait. I just needed to revise my chapter about six times...sigh and know where I was going. Hope you like this one (longer).

So, I only got a few replys. sigh Guess that's what I get for not posting for a long time, but I'm warning you. If I dont' get replys, I don't get motivated to post more.


	21. Frustration and Mist

"I just passed a little town called 'Silver Bay'," Danny practically yelled into his almost dead cell phone. "Only a few miles until I reach the lighthouse."

"What do you plan on doing?" Sam's voice almost didn't come through the static, but Danny found that he could understand her...barely.

"I'm going to explore the 'surrounding area', as the policeman I just talked to put it."

Sam hesitated for a few seconds. "Good idea," she said finally, although she sounded distracted. Of course, it just could be the lousy connection and lack of power. "Do you know where the accident happened?"

Danny nodded, although he knew she couldn't see him. "The policeman told me about where to go, and the area where they found the car. I'm not sure that he's exactly reliable, though." He reached a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "He could barely remember, and I know he's the oldest man there. No one else knew what I was talking about."

Sam sighed. "But it's all you have to go on, right?"

"Right," Danny mimicked her sigh. "Look, I gotta go before this phone dies completely. I still have to call Mom and Dad tonight."

"Okay," Sam said, a little too quickly in Danny's opinion, but he shook the thought away. "I'll see you tomorrow...and Danny," he could almost hear her lick her lips nervously before speaking... "Be careful, okay?"

The ghost boy smiled. "I promise. Later." With that, he hit the button that shut off the phone before shoving it into one of the nearly invisible pockets his parents had sewn into the suit before the accident.

Then he tried to turn his attention to flying, but his mind lingered on the conversation he had just ended. Why had Sam seemed so nervous? She was hiding something from him...something that she knew wouldn't help him at the moment, but despite himself, thoughts of what it could be began to plague him.

Had they found out more information that made the situation more dangerous? But then why hadn't they let him know? Maybe someone at school had found out...or he'd hear about how his parents knew he was gone tonight. The thought didn't help, just as he had predicted Sam had predicted.

Frankly, he couldn't think of anything else that would cause her to act that way, except that maybe Mr. Lancer had given them another 5 page report on some ancient, boring book. This thought seemed brighter, but still made him sigh. His grades had suffered enough already without surprise attacks like this.

'Or maybe,' he suddenly thought to himself, 'the ghost attacks on the town have increased...' he tried desperately to leave that thought unfinished, but sights of a burning city kept flashing before his eyes, and he redoubled his determination to get this done as soon as he could without harming anyone.

"Danny," he suddenly said to himself, and stopped. "Calm down!" The last thing he needed to do at the moment was panic about something he didn't even know had happened. He needed to focus, and stay calm. With that thought in mind, he took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly. Mrs. Techslav had always said to release stress, you should breathe out at least twice as long as you breathe in. Anything else was just gasping, and it could actually increase the panic if you breathed too fast...or something like that. Maybe he'd just mixed everything else up in his mind.

"Stop it Fenton," he said out loud before taking another breath (which did seem to help). "Stop second guessing yourself." His mother said that all the time, and it seemed to fit, so he repeated her words with fervor.

Besides, he had a job to do.

Reaching back into his pocket, he took out the map and looked around, comparing the shoreline with the area contained within the large red circle Officer Miles had drawn. In the distance, he could actually see the lighthouse, barely, and it looked fairly consistent with what he saw on the paper.

"Okay," he said to himself, and looked around at the fading light and mist that blew gently onto the lake with the evening. He had watched the sun set after talking to the policemen, unable to resist pausing to watch the sinking sun set the lake on fire where the light touched the slightly churning water. Then the mist started to roll in, giving the entire landscape a fairy-tail like feel. For those few minutes he had been able to forget everything...and it had been so blissfully peaceful...but that was then, and this was now. And now, he had to search.

With a confirming nod, he shoved the map into the pocket with his phone, and dove over the cliff's edge towards the shoals and rocks that tried in vain to stop the crashing waves of the gigantic body of water below.

He stayed well above the even the splashing mist of the water, allowing his glowing eyes to sweep the area, looking for something...anything. But then, he didn't even know what to search for. He hoped for something that would stand out. A bright flash of color, a sudden movement, his ghost sense...anything.

He hugged the coastline as he approached the tall, narrow building overlooking the dangerous shore, but nothing caught his eye. He found the closer his hope of finding something seemed to diminish. This had been a stupid plan after all, he sighed, unwittingly slowing. Why had he come up with such a stupid idea? Had false hope lead him here out of desperation? Just because he had to feel like he was doing SOMETHING. A growl of frustration escaped his clenched teeth and he had to make a conscious effort to unclench his fists.

Then he took another deep breath, closing his eyes. Then he took in another, and let it out slowly. Wether this whole 'breathing' thing worked or not, it sure didn't last long apparently. The third breath suddenly drew in an icy blast, apparently from the lake, and he realized how much the temperature dropped in only the last few seconds. Was that normal for Minnesota? Officer Miles had told him how quickly the weather around the lake changed, and how dangerous the fall gales could be. But that fast?

Suddenly his eyes popped open, to see the bluish mist of his breath blow away and disperse in the increasingly windy air. Could it be...? He wondered, and looked around.

The figure walking along the base of the cliff (floating really, because the water crashed strait through them while their feet never touched the foaming water) almost escaped his gaze, as she looked like a darkened and slightly colored version of the mist that had only recently disappeared with the increased wind.

Not daring to really hope, he took yet another deep breath, and dived at the figure.

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AN: Sorry it took so long guys. :D ; I've been having issues with a virus on my computer. Anywho the next chapter should be up tomorrow...wednesday at the latest!


	22. Realization

Um...ahem I'd like to say that I'm really sorry...this was supposed to be up a week and a half ago...but due to MORE internes issues and a sudden change in schedule...it just took a LOT longer than I thought it would! I"m sooo sorry guys!

Here's more! Please comment!

* * *

Danny could tell almost immediately the ghost was female. She walked delicately, almost wistfully, and looked as transparent as the mist that had so recently shrouded the deepening blackness of the oncoming night that continued descend apon the lake. The only thing that assured him she was indeed the ghost he had sensed, was the fact that the mist had dissipated in a strong wind that had blown in only minutes before, and no other traces of the mist could even be seen now…except for the figure. Danny had never seen the weather change so quickly in his life. One minute a calm breeze blew every now and then, if at all, and the next, this gale came thundering down on him. Did it have something to do with the ghost? He doubted it, but then again, he didn't know.

As he approached the figure, her misty form began to show some color. Black hair piled messily onto her head as long stray strands blew in the wind…and dark skin apparent in even the fading light. His heart beat hard, if irregularly, breaking the usual quiet that most often accompanied his ghost form. Had he been right after all? Had Alesha brought his sister here? Was this really her? He didn't dare believe, although he couldn't help but hope.

He flew closer, slowing down so as not to alert her to his presence. While most humans seemed to be completely oblivious to him when he flew by, some ghosts seemed to be able to hear him as much as if he walked on hard wood in human form.

A lump began to form in his throat, and time seemed to slow down to an agonizingly slow pace. He'd only been a few hundred yards away…why hadn't he reached her yet? Was she traveling at a deceptively fast speed that he couldn't see? But that didn't make sense, did it? With a shake of his head, he decided not to pursue that particular train of thought, and flew on.

After what seemed like forever, he finally came within a few yards of her, wondering why she couldn't hear his thunderous heartbeat over the strong wind. She seemed unaware of his presence, and continued to tread the air as if walking on solid ground, never making a hint that she would turn around.

After several seconds of composing himself, he examined her more closely. Her hair looked as if she'd styled it, and then left it for days, if not longer. More than one large patch of loose hair twisted and turned delicately in the wind, but to this, she also seemed oblivious. She wore tan Capri's and a blue shirt over black slip-on shoes. He'd never seen Alesha look like this…if this really was his former friend, why would she change her look all of a sudden?

For a second his anticipation dropped, but never completely fell. He still felt the flame of hope burn within him…diminished, but there none the less--and even if it wasn't her, she might be able to help him. 'This could be her though' he insisted to himself, although the more he thought about it, the more he doubted it. Nevertheless, he hid his hand behind his back, and got ready to throw an ectoplasmic blast at her…just in case she was hostile.

Then he cleared his throat.

"Excuse me…." He jumped when she shrieked and spun around to face him. Then she jumped back with another yelp the moment she saw him, which didn't help his own jittery mood.

He floated there, looking at this ghost, holding his hand up threateningly, willing it to glow with the seeping cold that accompanied all of his powers, and faced this ghost.

Now his hopes fell. She looked a lot like Alesha, but at least 20 years older, and with subtle differences in her features. No…it wasn't her, he sighed.

"Wh-who are you?" she stuttered. Danny realized he still held the ectoplasmic ball in his hands, ready to throw. Instantly he let it fade, and dropped his arm while attempting a weak smile.

"Er…sorry about that," he forced a laugh. "I'm Danny Phantom…who are you?"

She seemed confused for a minute, and answered very slowly. "I…I-I don't know."

Danny's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't know? Do you have amnesia or something?"

"Er…I guess," she shrugged, the look of scared confusion never leaving her face. "How can you float like that?" she gulped and pointed to his feet.

He blinked at her, and looked down, only to see the ocean at least fifty feet below both of them, and then looked back at her, now mirroring her look of bewilderment.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "We're both floating." At this, she gave him a double take, and looked down, only to look back at him with a calmer and slightly angry expression.

"What do YOU mean, young man?" She gestured towards her feet as if to point out the obvious. "I'm standing on this beach that I've been walking along…for…" she suddenly stopped and her face took on a contemplative look. "Well…a long time," she nodded and her former glare returned.

"Look," Danny started, but just shook his head with a sigh. She didn't seem to know about her current…situation, and she certainly didn't act like most of the ghosts he'd met. Frankly, though, he still couldn't be sure as to how stable she really was, so he would ask her about Alesha first, and tell her about her own passing later. Why did that sound so cowardly though?

"Never mind," he said finally. "I'm looking for a girl…er…who looks like you, but…uh…smaller." He forced a grin and rubbed the back of his neck. "Has anyone come by lately?"

She shook her head. "You're the first person I've met…well…since I started along the beach."

Danny cocked his head. "How long have you been walking?"

She shrugged. "I don't really remember. It's all kind of a blur."

"Oh," Danny sighed. "Well, since you haven't…I…I mean…" he paused for several moments before continuing. "I gotta tell you something." He braced himself for an explosion, not sure how she would take the news of her death, but he felt he had to tell her before he left. "Um…I'm a ghost. Well, half ghost, but that's a long story. And…er…well, you're a ghost too." She blinked at him for several seconds before shaking her head.

"Right. So, what…I'm dead?" Danny bit his lip and nodded. She simply rolled her eyes and turned her back on him. He stared after her for several seconds before a glare settled onto his features. "Hey, what's the last thing you remember before you started this 'walk'?" he challenged.

"A bright light," she said non-chalantly, not even bothering to look back at him. Danny suddenly felt the cold feeling that reminded him of ice in the pit of his stomach come back.

He gulped. "And a lighthouse?"

She stopped and turned slowly towards him again. "How did you know that?"

"Do the names Alesha and Brian mean anything to you?"

She shook her head. "Vaguely…"

"How about Lars and Marsha?" Danny croaked. Suddenly his voice wouldn't work for him.

"My…Masrha? Lars…and John…" she put her hand to her head, trying to recall the information that obviously teased the edge of her consciousness.

"Is…your name Nora?" he whispered to her.

Suddenly her eyes flashed brightly, only for a few seconds, but enough for Danny to back away. Then she gasped and looked around as if seeing her surroundings for the first time.

"You okay?" Danny asked slowly. She didn't answer but sank to her knees, resting on the ground that only she could see.

"Nora" she whispered, "I…so long…" her eyes turned up to look at Danny as if she hadn't been talking to him for the last several minutes. The painful shock showing through the vibrant green caused him to flinch, but he didn't back away again. "I really am dead…aren't I?" Danny bit his lip and looked away. He still remembered the horrible feeling he'd had when he realized he was half-ghost--half-dead--but at least he still lived. She didn't have that luxury, now cursed to remain in an endless state of an obsessive shadow of her former life.

He couldn't look at her for several minutes after that. He really couldn't imagine what it felt like to realize that you were dead--completely dead--and he was sure he didn't want to know yet, so he continued to stare awkwardly and silently at the uneven cliff face. He didn't look back until he heard her sobbing, and turned to see her faintly glowing figure shaking with the sobs that drifted towards him on the wind.

Not really knowing what else to do, he flew towards her, floating up next to her, and folding his legs to wait until she finished. It somehow felt inappropriate to want to stop her, so he sat quietly.

After several seconds, he felt her head on his shoulder, and it took all the willpower he could muster to not flinch. It was like having his own mother come and ask him for comfort…and that thought scared him in more ways than one. Still, he didn't have the heart to move away from her and cut into her mourning, so he sat with his eyes forward as the world around him finally faded to the blackness of night.


	23. Until Something Major Happens

Oh, you guys are gonna hate me…

Thanx for all the reviews! The more the better!

* * *

"You didn't tell him about the fight?" Tucker asked, a little too loud for Sam's comfort. She looked around at the fairly deserted street they usually took when walking to school.

"They're still together," Sam hissed. "They haven't separated or anything, and from what I could hear, she was just upset that his dad didn't tell her Danny was leaving."

"But—" Tucker started, but Sam held up a hand.

"Unless something really bad happens, we won't tell him anything. He needs to concentrate on finding Jazz. After that…" she faded off and shrugged. "I just hope he can patch the situation up by coming home in one piece…and hopefully with his missing sister in tow."

Tucker nodded slowly. "I guess that would help a lot…" he admitted. "Alright. We won't say anything unless something really bad happens."

Sam smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

xoxoxox

"Jack," the older man froze at the sound of his wife's voice. How could a simple name—his name--send streams of indescribable pain coursing through his body? Why was she even talking to him? She had to realize how much she'd hurt him when she'd confronted him about letting their son go on his little trip? So he hadn't asked her, so what? It hadn't been so important before…well, before Danny disappeared really. That's when all of this started.

"_I can't trust you with anything anymore Jack!" _Her voice still literally screamed in his mind. That one still stung like she'd only just said it. How had he proved himself untrustworthy? He'd made Danny promise to call them every night, just like when Maddie had let Jazz go…

Then the previous night's dream came rushing back to him. The one that scared him more than any other he'd ever had. In it, he'd been some sort of monster, chasing Danny and Maddie…and carrying a limp, lifeless Jazz unceremoniously in his arms.

"_It's all your fault! You chased her away!_" A different voice, a deeper one that sounded so familiar mixed in with his wife's accusations. _"You're not worthy of them…Monster." _That voice had not let him alone since these nightmares started. Why did his dreams haunt him worse than any ghost could in his waking hours? What kind of a monster had he turned into? Was his family really better off without him?

"Jack?" Her words brought him painfully back to reality again. He nodded in acknowledgement, and she spoke. "Look, I know that whenever you're upset, you become introverted. And you've seemed so…angry lately." She paused a second, "I…I know I haven't exactly been helping with that…but we need to talk about this."

He couldn't help what came out of his mouth next. "So you trust me enough to talk to me now?" Instantly the room's atmosphere stiffened.

"Jack, we need to put our differences aside and be strong for Danny. You obviously have no more hope for me, but he just got out of a situation that he refuses to tell us about, and I doubt this bickering is helping him trust us." Again, her words stung deeply.

"I have no hope for you?" he turned to look at her, trying to control his anger and hurt.

She glared coldly back. "That's certainly the impression I've been getting. I want you to know, that any hopelessness you feel towards you, only comes from you. You're so unsure of yourself…you've chanced so much. You're not the man I married. Where is he?"

He turned his back on her. "The same place my former wife went." Her gasp froze him more solid than any ice storm or cold temperature ever could have. He turned around to face her again. "That didn't come out right…" But the look on her face stopped him short once again. If he thought he'd felt pain before, he hadn't known what pain was. The look on her face, the look that screamed how much he'd hurt her, hurt him far more than anything she could have ever said to him. If his brain would have been working at that point, he would have begun to wonder how anyone could survive a similar situation.

"If you're not willing to fix this," she said with a calmness that defied her pain and tear-filled eyes. "Then I'll be at a hotel downtown. At the very least, we need time to think about this…I…" She faded off, obviously trying to maintain control. After several seconds, she turned around and started to walk upstairs. "Have a good life, Jack." He heard her whisper before the door to the main floor closed, and the basement started spinning. He remembered falling to his knees before everything faded to a blur…

xoxoxox

Maddie walked in a depressed daze down the street, half looking for a Taxi, half wishing to just be alone. Frankly, she wanted to find some hole and just hide in it. Well...at least until Danny came home. Maybe she could take Danny on a trip somewhere, just the two of them...and hide all of this.

Yeah, and Hades' realm could freeze over too. Danny was more intelligent than that. Still...maybe all they needed was time...

She shook her head. Her own words haunted her as much as his did. She had just realized that it was her own insecurity that made her lash out at him...and he seemed to be feeling about the pain. But then, what did he have to worry about? He's the one that came up with all the ideas. He was the motivation that drove her to live every day, gave her life a purpose. Yeah, she helped him on a lot of things, and yes he was a bumbler most of the time...but that was half his charm.

Well...it used to be half his charm. Now he just seemed to be an empty shell...was she the one that had driven him to that?

"Oh Jack," she whispered, tears streaming down her cheek. Then the screech of tires stopping next to her caused her eyes to focus on the long, black limousine that had pulled over.

The window rolled down, and the face of the last man she expected to see peered anxiously out at her.

"Maddie?" Vlad Masters said softly, "What's wrong?"


	24. What to feel

The night had deepened into a thick black that still didn't quite seem to seep all light away from the land, although it tried desperately. Danny noticed this just before the ghost woman stopped crying, saving him the trouble of having to overcome his unease and ask her to leave, or back off.

"I'm so sorry," She managed to choke out, as she sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I didn't mean to…I…how old are you anyway? Thirteen? Fourteen?"

"Fifteen," Danny nodded, and managed a wary smile as he backed away. She suddenly froze, and he could almost see the gears working in her head as she turned to look at him slowly.

"Does…" she began, but cut off with a strangled choke before re-starting. "Does this mean Marsha and Lars are…they're…"

Danny winced. "Yes," he said simply, not knowing what else to say. He tried to prepare himself for the worst, and failed miserably. If she had been mourning before, then he did not know what to call the look that settled onto her eyes now. He had never seen what he could truly call a feeling compared to this. The unmistakable pain and hear-tearing agony reflecting in her now dull eyes would haunt his thoughts until the day he died, and probably beyond. He could only hope that it would not remain with him forever, because the thought alone sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't help but look away.

She did not shed a tear this time, although Danny didn't know if it was due to the fact that she had no more to cry, or if the pain ran too deeply. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Why are you looking for her?"

Danny blinked and looked back. "Huh?"

The woman looked up with an empty expression that almost hid the anguish still pouring from her eyes. "Marsha. You're looking for Marsha. Why?"

"Oh, right," Danny nodded and rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly. What could he tell her that wouldn't hurt her more deeply before she got the chance to heal even a little? He didn't think he could bear to hurt her anymore right now, and he didn't know how she would take his "story". "Because…if I find her, I can find my sister," he nodded with a satisfied smile.

She blinked at him. "So you sister is…?"

"Dead?" Danny finished, immediately regretting doing so due to her wincing at the word. "Er…no."

"So," she cocked her head, "then why…?"

Danny sighed. "It's a long story."

"I appear to have plenty of time," the sadness intensified in her expression again, as did Danny's own discomfort.

"Um…I don't," he replied. "I have to get home…like A.S.A.P., so…" he faded off, not really knowing what to say that would be able to get him outta there.

"I'll come with you," she finished, and rose from her position, brushing herself off as if she'd gotten sand or dust on her while waiting in the wind.

Danny suddenly realized what she'd said. "WHAT!" he shrieked.

She looked up. "Now that I know who I am, I feel I must seek out my children." He couldn't argue with her there. How could he deny her even that simple joy?

"I…I-I…" he stuttered.

"Would you rather I stay here?" She gestured to her surroundings. "Walking on a beach for the rest of my life? Or death…or you understand."

Danny shook his head as a sad smile crossed his face. "I guess not," he said. He wanted to slap himself, or kick himself, or shoot something…but nothing came to mind so he simply sighed, and tried to move past his uncomfortable situation by holding out his hand. "I don't know if you can fly, so…" he gestured for her to take it. "Although, as a ghost, you should be able to."

Danny couldn't' blame the look of skepticism she gave him. Here he was, a fifteen-year-old ghost boy who was offering his hand to help her, an older woman who could have been his mom, but certainly capable of moving around on her own…or so she thought. To her credit, she took it.

"I'll let you come on one condition:" he said as the thought came to him. "On the way, before I give you my story, you tell me yours first." She looked down for a second, as if weighing the options, then shrugged and nodded.

"Very well," was all she said. Danny smiled, and took off as gently as he could, feeling her start and tense.

"I don't know how to tell you to fly," he said over his shoulder as he moved up wards, towards the top of the cliff. "Just think of a wonderful thought," he smiled weakly to himself. Peter Pan was another one of his favorite movies. Now he'd have to watch it when he got home.

He'd almost reached the summit, when he heard her scream, which startled him enough that he almost let go.

"What's wrong!" He asked, looking back. She clung to his hand and stared as if she couldn't take her eyes off of the crashing, black waves below.

"That's…that's what I've really been walking on…all this time…I…oh…" she quickly tore her eyes away and put a hand to her head."

"Actually," Danny mentally made himself relax and continue up the cliff, "We were both sitting about fifty feet above that, but…" he shrugged and looked back with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

She took her hand away from her head, and a look of determination crossed her face. "I believe I can," he heard her whisper to herself, and she let go. Adrenalin (or the ectoplasmic equivalent) rushed through his veins as he immediately turned to catch her, only to find her floating with a pale face (even for a ghost) right where she'd been only moments before. He smiled and nodded approvingly.

She gulped, closed her eyes, and headed unsteadily towards the land.

"So," he said as he also turned back to the cliff-face. "Where were you born?"


	25. Just a Creepy Feeling

Madeline Fenton stood on the sidewalk, blinking in surprise at the face that peered out at her from the long, black limousine.

"Vlad…why…what…?" She pointed half-heartedly in the direction she'd come from, and scratched her head.

"I was in town, and decided to drop by for a visit…" he paused for a second. "So…are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Why did that voice send shivers up her spine?

Brushing the thought away with a shake of her head, she couldn't help but sigh. "Jack and I…well…we got in a fight." It was all she could do to not cringe at the new wave of emotional pain that washed over her with even that simple explanation.

Vlad's eyes dropped, and he stared blankly at the sidewalk. "I'm so sorry," he whispered softly. She didn't see the gleam of success in his eye.

Maddie shook her head and waved her hand in what she hoped looked like non-chalance. "Every couple has their problems," she forced a smile. Vlad looked up with a stern look at her words.

"Maddie," he said slowly, "it took me years to realize you would never love me, but that doesn't mean that I don't know you still. You wouldn't have left without a good reason.

"Now, why don't you tell me everything, and we'll see what we can't do fix it."

She shook her head. "I don't feel like discussing it right now."

Just as she finished speaking, the heavy clouds overhead broke, and started to pour buckets of water.

"Very well," Vlad nodded and stepped out of his car, umbrella in hand. "At least let me give you a ride to where you're going." Despite the rain, she hesitated. Here, the man that had only months ago asked her to leave her husband for him now stood ready to help her get back on her feet. Something just seemed too convenient for him…

She couldn't help but study him suspiciously. He hadn't been this nice since college—well, not this sincere in any case—but he seemed honest enough. Still, she knew how looks could be deceiving.

Finally, the rain dripping down her Hasmat suit got to her, and she nodded, stepping into the limousine. She didn't see his triumphant smile as she disappeared inside, or she might have re-considered due to the glowing, red eyes.

xoxoxox

Danny sat in a booth-like table outside a convenience store, soaking in the early-morning sunlight as he crammed one of three energy bars into his mouth, trying not to get too many crumbs on the map laid on the table before him.

"Looks like we make a left here, at this intersection," he wiped his hand on his shirt, and pointed to a place in the middle of the map. "Then we head strait East."

The cashier eyed him through the open door, as he talked to thin air, and received no answer she could hear. She had begun to wonder about this kid. He'd arrived alone, in a gas-station at least half a mile from the nearest house or motel, and he liked to talk to himself as if he were two people. Not to mention he had asked her how to bet to another state, when he obviously wasn't even old enough to drive.

To say the least, he creeped her out. To say the most, she was about to call the cops…although she didn't know what she would say to them.

"Hi, there's this kid here, and I think he's insane, although he doesn't seem dangers at all." She shuddered. There was just something about him…

She couldn't say she was sorry to see him go, although he did seem nice enough, even if her hair stopped standing on end only after he left the store and walked out of view around the side of the building.


	26. Thoughts of a Dead Mother

Just to warn you, there's a lot of backstory here, so I hope I don't bore you to death. Anyway, thank you all once again for you feedback. Posetive or negative, it helps:hug: wishes she could respond personally here...then growls at whoever makes rules I'll follow them, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

- -

"So, this guy--who also happens to be a half-ghost--wants your mother to leave your father, and marry him. He hires…" she paused for a moment, trying to swallow the still difficult phrase, "…ghosts, and got Marsha and Lars--who don't remember their first names--to work for him…right?"

Danny nodded, fatigue pulling at his eyes. They'd been flying for what seemed like forever, and hadn't even reached his home state, not to mention it had taken him almost the entire time to just explain this much to her.

She noticed his expression. "Are you okay? Do you need to rest?" It was all Danny could do to nod. Apparently the few hours of sleep he'd gotten the night before hadn't done much good.

"I'll be okay," he mumbled, "I just need to sit down for a second, and eat something." She nodded, and he immediately dropped altitude, heading towards an open field where they landed, both lacking grace due to either inexperience or fatigue. Almost as soon as he touched ground in the open field they'd landed in, he detransformed, not realizing the impressed look she gave him. Then he did his best to shake his weariness off as he reached into his back pocked for the last of the energy bars.

"We should be home soon," he said, in the same slurred voice. "I'll be able to—"

"Oh, no you don't." He looked up at the African American woman through drooping eyelids. "You're going to sleep, young man."

He smiled. "You sound a little like my mother used to," he nodded, and looked around at the obviously unused field of wild flowers and weeds, stifling a yawn. "Okay, fine. But promise me you'll wake me up in half an hour…I can sleep more when I get home."

She looked at him skeptically, but nodded. He handed her his watch, and grinned as he shoved the last of the bar into his mouth. She raised her eyebrow in amusement and watched as the teenager sat down, rather suddenly, on the ground before curling up into a semi-fetal position.

From the sound of his breathing, she knew that he'd fallen asleep almost immediately.

And that quickly, she was alone again…with only her newly-found memories and thoughts to keep her company.

"I can handle this," she said to herself. She'd been alone for the last 12 years, so what were a few more minutes? And why wasn't she tired? Did ghosts get tired? The way this boy talked about them, it seemed as if he treated them like another race of humans, with their own twisted "lives", ambitions, possessions, and DNA.

Well, of course. She still...existed, as did the dead members of her family...

The thought reminded her of her loneliness--struck her on the head like a stone actually--and she couldn't suppress a shudder.

She wasn't ashamed to admit how frightened the situation made her. Who would be? But why had she stayed behind to wonder this world when they'd ended up in the place Danny called the Ghost Zone? The thought perplexed her, which only added to her fright, guilt and frustration.

She should have been with, or looking for, her children all those years she walked in her own fantasy! And she should have been able to break whatever spell she'd put herself under. She ran her hand through the loose strands of her hair in frustration. She should have been able to break it!

She should have been able to...

With some effort, she wrenched her thoughts onto something else, and soon reflected back on the conversation she'd had with the boy when they'd been flying.

She'd told him everything she now remembered. A few scattered memories at the orphanage, and then her parents. Her adopted parents. Her _white_, adopted parents. So many people in the neighborhood had disapproved of them taking her in, although she hadn't found that out until much later in life.

Three years old, and she'd been brought to stay with the Jones and their other adopted children. They'd loved her, and taken care of her…and she'd never really wanted more, except for those few selfish times in teenage years. But everyone had those.

She'd told him how she met her best friend, Marsha, who had moved from Wyoming of all places just after they'd turned twelve. For some reason, they'd just hit it off almost immediately. Marsha didn't seem to care as much as the others in the neighborhood that Nora's skin color was different. The blond-haired, brown-eyed teenager who always seemed to carry a smile up her sleeve actually threatened the other high-schoolers when they would tease or threaten Nora later on.

She'd taught Nora to stand up for herself, and she'd always been there.

Always.

The thought almost made her smile.

Almost.

At the end of their senior year, a random, drive-by shooting in the nearest large city took Marsha away from her. Nora hadn't been the only one devastated, but she was one of the hardest hit. She couldn't have imagined life in high-school without her best friend, and the thought that she wouldn't ever see her best friend again almost drove her to suicide. She'd never attempted anything, thanks to the support her parents and family gave her, but to this day, she still felt a gaping wound in her heart where Marsha had been.  
They'd been planning on going to the same University together, and Nora wouldn't hear of going anywhere else. Her parents wanted her to be closer, but she wouldn't hear of it when the subject came up. She felt she had to do this...for Marsha.

She left for college, although she didn't do the best in her classes, and there, she met John Evans. He hadn't been her first boyfriend, or her last to tell the truth…well, the first time they got together in any case. Then he'd left due to a family emergency, and kept in touch, but she'd moved on until he came back for her, expressing his undying love.

So what could she do, but accept his proposal? Not that the thought brought her down in any way whatsoever. She'd been ecstatic, and felt much the same way towards him as he did towards her.

When they'd gotten married, he'd taken a job in the North-East, and they moved to Minnesota to be closer. She hadn't wanted to move to a large city, so they'd compromised and bought a house in the northern part of the state. It hadn't been large (they could barely afford that and an apartment for John in the city as well)…one room and a kitchen basically, but she'd never felt more content.

Of course, they'd had their arguments, both major and minor. Between the job and separation connected to it, she'd often wondered how they'd made it through those rough times. She remembered vividly the times when they'd almost separated, but through thick and thin, he'd always swallowed his pride to stand by her.

Especially through the pregnancies.

She'd found out about her first pregnancy only two or three weeks after the move, and called John with nothing short of elation. But complications caused her to loose the baby, and that was only the beginning.

For some reason, her body couldn't seem to hold an embryo. Every time she got pregnant, some sort of complexity would arise, and she'd miscarry…and along with the unborn soul, she'd loose some bit of her heart every time.

The fifth time she received word from the Doctor, they'd done everything they could. She'd been hospitalized, and monitored 24/7. John gave up his job, and practically lived at the hospital too, just to be with her. To this day, she still didn't know where he'd pulled the money to keep their house and pay off even some of the doctor's bills, but their sacrifice finally paid off. Any complications that had come up they'd been able to find and fix, and after eight and a half months, they were blessed with a baby girl.

They'd named her Marsha Alesha after Nora's best friend, and her mother. John hadn't even argued, and most of the family made a special trip just to see her, as had John's family.  
That's when she'd first met John's brother Paul, and his fiancée Naomi. They'd brought the news of their wedding announcement to his only brother. Her family…well, she rarely spoke of them, and when she did, it didn't put them in the best light. John's parents had died a few years before in an accident, hence the reason he'd left college before proposing to her.

She'd felt uncomfortable around them at first, but soon grew to love them both. Just before they left, they'd announced that they were going to move up to Minnesota to be closer to John and Nora, and sell John and Paul's parents' house.

John had not been happy, but he complied because they needed the money to help pay for the rest of the hospital bills.

For years after that, all four of them settled down. They'd simply lived, watching Marsha and later Lars Brian (named after Paul's Father and a co-worker that he looked up to).

That's when Nora's heart had begun to heal. All the pain and sadness she'd gone through since Marsha's death had finally stopped it seemed.

That's when Paul and Naomi died.

They'd taken a boat out onto one of the lakes, despite several warnings not to. Witnesses say the storm that hit came up in 20 minutes from a clear sky. The inspectors who looked into the deaths didn't believe them, although everyone had agreed that it hit too quickly for them to make it back to port.

The child had been found on the shore only a few hours later, almost dead from exposure. They never found his parent's bodies.

So Nora and John had been more than willing to adopt two-year-old Lars, and raise him as their own son.

He was an intelligent boy, with a 90 percent recall memory, almost photographic. Nora doubted he ever really forgot his parents, or what happened the night of the storm.

He grew up, a quiet, child genius who loved math and science, while Marsha had been more of an artistic girl.

That's why they'd gone to the light-house that day. It was close, and Lars was doing a report in school. Marsha wanted to come along, with her fascination of history and structure setting her firmly against staying home.

A small voice had told Nora to stay home that day. She remembered brushing the thought aside three times before they'd left, almost like someone had planted the thought in her mind.

Oh how she wished she'd listened.  
The day had been uneventful, for the most part, but Lars insisted on going through with the last tour before leaving, despite the fact that they'd gone through at least two times already. John had given in almost immediately, but Nora felt uneasy.

Still, it was just a silly feeling, she'd told herself, and they'd gone through.

Because of oncoming weather, among other things, the tour took longer than it otherwise would have. A few pictures of the sunset afterwards, had guaranteed their driving back in the dark.

Not a few miles from the lighthouse, an oncoming car swerved into their lane. The last thing Nora remembered was turning around to warn the children before their car went rolling. She didn't remember seeing John, but she did remember seeing the cliff. Her heart had dropped to her knees, and she prayed that they would stop in time…but the speed just seemed to pick up, and they neared the ledge, the drop, and the water several hundred feet below.

The water she'd been deathly afraid of since Paul and Naomi's accident.

She remembered screaming, and a falling sensation. She remembered the children screaming too…and then nothing else.

She recalled waking up after that, without a memory. It had taken her several minutes just to rise onto her hands.

She'd regretted that one almost immediately. She'd seen them half-submerged, up to her elbows, in water. Looking back, she'd realized the same thing had happened to her legs…but there had been nothing to support them. No rocks, no plants, no nothing.

She remembered the panic that had come over her then. How could she be floating like that? What was going on? This wasn't natural! Maybe she was dreaming…that's right, dreaming. She'd clamped her eyes shut at that thought, and rubbed them (not realizing that she should have fallen if her hands had truly been supporting her).

When she'd opened her eyes, she lay on a beach, with the sand stretching before her for miles next to the cliff.

Something told her to just walk along it. Find a way out, find the exit, and then she could worry about remembering who she was.

That's when she'd started walking.

And she hadn't stopped until Danny came along.

Vaguely, she wondered how she'd been able to stay in the same place after walking for 12 years, but then, she didn't really know what rules now governed her spirit.  
She'd obviously made up the beach to satisfy her panicking mind.

So what—

With a sudden shake of her head, she looked down at the watch and put a hand to the bridge of her nose. Half an hour had turned into almost an hour.

Talk about lost in your thoughts.

With a sigh, she wandered over to waken the Half-ghost, now running over what he'd told her. He'd avoid answering questions though. Dodge around them like they were poisonous, and the thought tugged at her patience, curiosity and fear.

"He's hiding something," she said to herself as she reached down to touch him. "It's time I find out what."


	27. A Concerened Friend?

Hey guys, I'm having problems contacting my beta reader, so that's why things have been so slow. When I finally can get ahold of her, I should be able to post two more chapters in Weakness and at least one more chapter here.

I'm almost done with this one actually!

And beware...this chapter is mean.

- - -

"So," Maddie said quietly, breaking what she felt was an uncomfortable silence as they rode in the expensive, black car. "Why are you here?" She glanced at the white-haired man seated across from her warily, but only for a second before returning them to the suitcase she still clutched in her gloved fists.

Jack had bought it for her on their honeymoon.

He didn't answer for several seconds, and sounded slightly unsure when he finally did.

"I...er...heard about the allegations on the television–"

"Wait," Maddie interrupted, a sudden flare coming to her eyes. Vlad seemed well aware of this, which only seemed to encourage her to continue. "You mean what the news says about how Jazz probably wasn't kidnapped at all, but ran away? And how they said that we're just trying to cover our "abusive" history?" Her voice rose with a passionate anger she didn't know she had strength for after everything that had just happened, but there she sat across from him, fuming.

Vlad looked at her with an impressed, but thoughtful look on his face. "Well," he started, "it does seem suspicious to lose both children within only a few months, but–"he held up his hand when she leaned forward, opening her mouth to speak, her face twisting with more anger. "But," he repeated quietly, when she paused, allowing him to speak, "I know that neither you or Jack would ever do anything to purposely hurt your children, and I came to offer my help." The red-headed woman blinked at him, but said nothing. After a few seconds, she seemed to deflate, and sat back, obviously too surprised to speak.

"I should have offered my help when Daniel disappeared. He was obviously coming to my house for help when you found him. Had I paid more attention to my surroundings instead of my work, I might have been able to lend him such help..." he faded off, shaking his head sadly.

"I'm sure you did everything you could," Maddie reassured him uncertainly.

The other shook his head. "I didn't Maddie, and I want to make up for it by helping you find Jasmine."

She couldn't suppress the genuine smile that touched her lips, and vaguely she remembered that it was the first time in days, if not weeks, that she felt she could smile. With a grateful look, she returned her vision to her hands again, seeing them relax slightly.

"Thank you, Vlad," she said softly. "You don't know how much that means to me." A slight tear escaped her eye, and rolled down her cheek, but she refused to let out any more than that.

"Oh, you might be surprised," he replied. Her eyes snapped back up to look at him, only to see a sad, concerned face, but she hadn't liked the tone in his voice... "Ever since the Ghost King incident, I've felt like a fa–er...uncle to your children. The fact that all this has happened..." he shook his head, "and to such a deserving family." Maddie felt herself snort under her breath at the remark, and they rode in silence for several more minutes before the rain caught her eye.

"Oh," she said suddenly, sitting forward. He reacted immediately, with obviously honed reflexes as if to catch her and keep her from falling. "I was heading to the Motel 6–"

Vlad relaxed, but cut her off by raising his hand again. "I wouldn't hear of it," he said haughtily. "Only the best for my college friends."

"Oh," Maddie began, "But–" he cut her off again.

"I insist."

With several more blinks, she shook her head sadly. "Thank you, Vlad. You didn't have to do that."

"It is no problem whatsoever, Maddie, and you deserve the best."

She nodded with a grateful smile, when he lit up suddenly.

"I have an excellent idea!" He scooted to the edge of his seat, and put his hands together. "What would you say to a nice dinner?" She looked up and started to protest yet again, and yet again, he cut her off. "We can discuss what's been going on, and maybe sort things out enough so that I can drop you off at home tonight instead of a hotel."

She looked at him skeptically, her grip unconsciously tightening on the handle of the old suitcase. Jack's suitcase...or the one that seemed to tie him to her. Why did she suddenly think of her husband like that? It hurt so much.

"Maddie?" She looked over at the millionaire, who cocked his head at her worriedly. She nodded and held up her finger, signifying she was still thinking over it.

Her mind told her everything was fine; that he was just an old friend trying to help out. But some vague feeling told her as she glanced at her college friend, that something had gone terribly wrong with him at some point, and it hadn't been remedied.

Why did she feel that way? Why would she?

'The fact that he asked me to come and live with him has nothing to do with it, I'm sure,' she thought sarcastically.

They both remained silent for several more seconds, as she weighed the different sides to her dilemma. Why she had such a difficult time over something as simple as dinner reached far beyond her conscious, logical reasoning, but it did. For some reason, this decision was important, she knew.

It was Jazz that made her decision for her. If Vlad really was as unstable as she felt he might be, then she needed to keep him appeased to retain the offer for his help with Jazz...and having his help might be the difference between finding the teenager alive and well...and not finding her at all.

With a sigh, she finally looked into his light blue, concerned eyes and smiled.

"Didn't mean to space like that," she said with what she hoped was a cheery voice. "Of course I'll have dinner with you, Vlad"


	28. From the Beginning

Okay guys! Here's more FINALLY! Expect this to be finished by the end of the week...four or five more chapters, minimum!

-----

"I said a half hour!" Danny glared at Nora as he stood up and unsuccessfully tried to rub the fatigue from his eyes.

"I lost track of time," she said simply.

Danny sighed. "I'm going ghost," he muttered as the two rings appeared around his waist, and transformed him with a flash of light into the notorious Ghost-boy. He didn't really know why he kept the childish battle cry, although he suspected that it had something to do with the fact that Vlad didn't like it.

"Let's go," he said, trying to stifle a yawn as he leapt into the air.

Nora took a deep breath, and followed uncertainly. "You know," she shuddered as she watched the world drop away beneath them, "I'll never get used to that."

Danny laughed. "I thought that too, but after you do it for so long, it becomes second nature."

"You know," she glanced over at him, "I haven't heard you laugh before. It's a nice sound."

The smile immediately disappeared and he looked away. "I've grown up too quickly since I got my powers to laugh much anymore."

Nora cringed at the bitterness that laced his words. "How long have you been like this?" she asked, before adding almost as an afterthought, "...a half ghost, I mean?"

He blinked, still refusing to look at her. Alesha had asked him that question, and it unnerved him to have someone who looked so much like her ask him again. Pushing the thoughts aside, he gulped and answered. "A little over a year."

"You mean, you weren't born like that? You were turned into one just like that Vlad character?"

The look on her face amused him enough to coax a smile onto his lips. "What did you expect?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I guess I don't know. I'm not an expert on ghosts. Although I have to say that I would probably have found it a fascinating subject. Especially now." Her voice faded off before turning to throw a forced smile his direction. "Especially if everything about them looks as amazing your transformation. It has to be the most incredible thing I've ever seen."

"Thanks." Danny glanced at her, before looking down at his white-gloved hands. "I guess. I used to think so too."

She cocked her head. "Used to? What have you seen that's more amazing than that?"

He sighed and dropped his hands to his side. "Statues," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "None of them had any real shape or form, and they were all made from a material covering the entire room...and let me tell you, this room was gigantic." He spread his arms wide to emphasize the last word, and continued. "They hung from the ceiling, and looked like they actually grew from the floor. The substance they were made of looked like sea green glass, and it looked like they stretched on forever, as far as I could see. The only sharp edges in the entire room were on the statues. Everything else looked soft and round." He sighed and looked over at her again.

"I can't describe it very well, but it was amazing. After I get home and rest, I'll take you there...although," his voice took on a sad tone, "it's recently been destroyed."

"Who would do such a thing?" Nora asked softly.

Danny hesitated for several moments before he answered. "Someone...in a lot of pain," he finally answered in an equally soft voice.

They flew for several minutes in silence before Nora decided to break the silence again. "So, are you going to tell me your story, and not just the part that includes Alesha?" He cringed, and didn't answer. "Look," she said in a kinder tone. "Why don't you just start from the beginning...how you got your powers?"

Danny sighed and nodded. "Well, it all started when my parents decided to build a portal to hook to the ghost zone, similar to the one that changed Vlad...only bigger. Much, much bigger..."

- - -

Danny told her about his adventures as a new halfa, and about the many ghosts he had fought, thinking in his innocence that it would always continue like it had back then. He'd been so naive.

He went on to the incident with Vlad sending Marsha and Lars to overshadow his parents. As he spoke, Danny realized that was the only time he'd ever actually talked to Brian. Knowing what he knew now, he would have liked to get to know Alesha's brother better.

Then he told her about New York, and staying with Vlad, and finally getting to know her daughter, and about how Alesha had turned on his arch-enemy to help him get home. When he came to the point where Vlad had given him that horrible choice, that wasn't really a choice at all, he had to stop. A lump formed in his throat and he looked away.

"You have extremely loyal friends to keep coming back after all of that," she told him quietly. He nodded, still wondering how to continue. "So," she recognized his uncomfortable silence, and urged him on. "You had just decided to go home with your sister and friends...what happened after that? And where was Lars all this time?"

Well, that certainly didn't help the lump do anything but grow larger. Taking a deep breath, he swallowed before continuing with a weak voice. "Jazz gave me a hug...and then Vlad came, and overshadowed...er, overtook my best friend's body. Tucker. He told me if I wanted Tucker to live, that I should follow him. I did, after asking Ale–er, Marsha to take Jazz and Sam to get my parents. She agreed, and I went after Tucker. I found him in Vlad's office...standing next to a green tank filled with a thick, green liquid. Vlad was still inside him, and he told me about the tank.

"He told me it was filled with a substance that could knock ghosts out for a long time. Then he pointed out that if it could do that to a ghost, it would be lethal to a human. He had Lars inside it, and had been using him as blackmail to keep Alesha around. Apparently they were going to quit or something, and Plasmius didn't like that.

"Anyway, Vlad took Tucker and floated above the tank, saying that if I could get Brian out, he'd let everyone go, no questions asked. I didn't really believe him, but I had to try. When I put my arms through the glass, I lost all feeling in them. After only a few seconds, anything touching the stuff stopped working altogether. I couldn't feel my arms at all. He told me that he'd set the device to explode, and that anyone–ghost or human–left in the room would be obliterated. Then he gave me three seconds to choose, and flew out of Tucker."

"So your friend...?" Nora looked over, horror showing on her face.

"I was able to catch him in time," Danny muttered, "but I couldn't get to Lars too... Everything exploded just as I phased out of the room. I caught some of the blast, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a hospital bed."  
Yet again, he didn't dare look at her as this shock hit her.

"Lars...he--he's really dead, isn't he?" she asked. "Not even a ghost anymore..."

"I'm so sorry," Danny blurted out suddenly. "I tried to save him! Really I did–"

"Danny," she shook her head, "I can tell you're telling me the truth, and it wasn't your fault. I don't blame you...but Marsha didn't take it very well, did she?"  
Danny shook his head, not realizing how good it felt to finally talk about all of this and get it off of his shoulders. "I think that Vlad got to her, and brainwashed her into thinking that I let him...er...die on purpose."

"Why would you do such a thing?" Nora asked in outrage and confusion.

"Like an exchange for ruining my life or something." He shook his head. "I never blamed her. If she hadn't helped me out...if she hadn't turned on Vlad, I'd still be at his house, and probably suicidal by now.

"Anyway, she came to my house, and started to help me fight ghosts. That's when the nightmares started, mostly due to all the fighting between my parents lately. It took a few weeks for her to reveal her plan...to kill me. Jazz saved me again, I think, because Alesha knocked me unconscious, and should have been able to take me out then and there. When I woke up, though, I saw her take Jazz outside, talking about how she was going to do to me what I did to her. When I followed, I couldn't find any trace of them, until I went into the basement. Mom had been knocked out, and the porthole was open, but by then there was no way to trace them. I've been looking for them ever since."

He knew she was still absorbing the shock of everything he'd told her, and frankly, he didn't know exactly how she'd react. It scared him. Would she freak out and turn on him like Alesha had? He didn't know if he could handle that, but what could he do except watch and wait?

To his relief, she only continued to fly beside him, with an emotionless face.  
They flew like that for almost 20 minutes before a town began to come into view over the horizon.

"Um..." he cleared his throat. "There's Amity park. We're almost home."

"For you, perhaps," she whispered. Not only was he unsure if that was directed at him, but he didn't know how to respond, so he didn't.  
They didn't speak for the rest of the trip. 


	29. Phone Calls

Warning...another cruel chapter-- Thanks for the reviews everyone,they mean a great deal, especially those with criticizm.

- - -

The sound of a ringing telephone pulled Jack from the realm of his–for once– peaceful sleep. He sat up groggily, wondering briefly why he was on the floor of the lab before the day's events came rushing back to him. Suddenly, the world seemed more dismal than ever, and he almost couldn't force himself to the phone. The thought that it could be Maddie, and that he could apologize to her, pulled his black-gloved hand up to grab the ghost-shaped, cordless phone that they had kept in the basement for years.

"Hello?" he asked, realizing with a cringe how utterly depressed he sounded.

"Jack?" For a moment, his hopes rose as he recognized the voice on the other side of the phone.

"Maddie?" he licked his lips. "Maddie, I–"

"Jack," she interrupted. "I still need some time to think, okay? I just wanted to let you know...Vlad's in town. He took me to dinner, and, after a long talk, I've decided to take his offer to let me come to his house. He's going to help us find Jazz."

For several seconds, Jack couldn't say anything. He'd known Vlad since high school, and they'd been buddies ever since. He'd always considered the skinnier, more manipulative man to be his best friend, even knowing the feelings of animosity the billionaire had towards him since the accident in college. He'd never stopped hoping for their eventual reconsiliation...although he almost regretted such thoughts now. He'd certainly never felt towards anyone (let alone his best friend) what he was feeling towards Vlad at this moment.

"Jack?" Maddie's voice pulled him back. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Look, I want Danny to come with us. We're sending a plane ticket that I want you to give to him as soon as he gets home, okay?"

"I–I–" he stuttered, not knowing what to say.

"Goodbye, Jack," he heard her say softly before the phone clicked and went dead. He felt it slip from his hand and clatter to the floor, and did nothing to prevent it. How could he? His world had basically come to a complete halt.

His son didn't trust him, his daughter was missing, and his wife had basically run away with his best friend, not to mention that he no longer felt any surety at all in himself because of the stupid dreams that he kept having. How could all this have happened? He found himself asking over and over again in his mind; but no matter how long he sat there, slouched against the wall and staring blankly ahead, no answers came to mind.

-----

"That's funny," Danny blinked at his cell phone as he landed in the street a few blocks from his home. "The line's still busy."

"Is that abnormal?" Nora asked, speaking for the first time in several minutes.

"Well, yeah," Danny flipped the cell phone down, and shoved it into his pocket as he detransformed behind a dumpster. "Come on," he jerked his head to show the direction, and started off towards his home.

Nora simply nodded and followed, for which he was thankful. No doubt she was wondering how true everything he'd just told her really was. Sure, she said she believed him, but how much trust did anyone really put into the word of a 15-year-old boy? More importantly, he'd been questioning if he really remembered everything as it had happened. Jazz had told him once that people twist things subconsciously to deal with them better. He hoped that wasn't the case with this situation.

Finally he stopped in front of his house, and started up the steps, a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach driving him on. Something felt...wrong here.

"You've got to be kidding me," he heard Nora say, and turned around to see her staring up at the large luminescent sign that flashed "Fenton Works" and the equipment literally welded onto the roof of the house. Danny couldn't help but smile.

"My parents are...a little eccentric," he said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"I can see that." She blinked and shook her head before following him into the house.

"Well, it's normal in here," she commented, looking around in slight surprise.

"Heh...yeah, um..." He looked back at her, and bit his lip. "Could you...go invisible for a while?" he asked. "My parents don't take too kindly to ghosts..."

She looked down at him, her face once again expressionless. "Hence the reason you haven't told them about yourself yet?" He nodded, and looked away. "You said they were fanatics...I didn't realize exactly how fanatical they are from what you sead."

"Yeah." Danny looked around warily. "Er...to go invisible, just think it...I guess, and you will...I think."

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "That's helpful." He shrugged with an apologetic look on his face, and watched as she closed her eyes, and slowly vanished from view.

"Perfect." He flashed a thumbs up in her general direction, and was about to head down to the lab to see if one of his parents was there, when his cell phone rang.

He quickly opened it as he stepped into the kitchen, looking around and seeing no one. "Hello?"

"Danny?" a whispered voice came over the line. He recognized it immediately.

"Jazz?" he practically yelled. "Where–"

"Danny, listen to me!" she hissed. "He's been sending the dreams!"

Danny's face went from ecstatic to utterly confused. "He who? Send what?"

"A ghost! With blue skin, red eyes, fangs and pointy hair. I haven't seen him or Alesha for a while, but he's the one that's been sending Mom's bad dreams...and yours too, I think."

"Plasmius," Danny growled, and he felt his eyes glow green with anger. "How is he sending them?"

"I found this little black and red block...and when I touched it, I saw the dreams that you and Mom described to me. There were others too...I think Dad and Alesha have been getting bad dreams also..."

Danny paused, leaning against counter for support. Again, it all led back to Plasmius. How could that son o–

"Danny, I've got to go," Jazz whispered hurriedly. "I don't know where I am, but if you can get me outta here, I'd REALLY appreciate it. It's a castle. Bye!"

"Jazz! NO! JAZZ!" he yelled at the phone, but to no avail. The line went dead, and she was gone.


	30. Responsibility

Danny just stood there, half way between the kitchen door and the basement door, trying to recover from the one-two punch he'd just received, when a tap on his shoulder caused him jump several feet and flip around, his hands raised in defense and ready to fight.

"Sorry," Nora said, taking several steps back. He blinked and lowered his hands as she continued. "What was that all about?"

"Plasmius..." Danny growled. "This is all his fault. I've gotta find Mom–" Something white tucked just inside the door caught his eye suddenly: a large envelope with his name on it. He'd missed it before because he'd been focused on hiding Nora. Tearing past the ghost woman, he grabbed it and ripped it open. A plane ticket and two pieces of paper fell into his hands.

He almost tore the first letter apart in his haste at trying to open it. It read:

_Dear Danny, _

_Vlad Masters has very generously offered to help us find Jazz. Your father's staying there in case she calls or something like that happens. I will be staying with Mr. Masters at his mansion while we look for Jazz. I'd feel much more comfortable if you were with me, and not there at home, so I'm sending a plane ticket for you when you get back. I'm sure you can find your way here. Just call me before you come so I can have a taxi or someone pick you up at the airport. _

_I hope your trip was fun, and I hope to hear from you soon. _

_I love you, _

_Mom _

Danny blinked and reread the letter for clarification, and something just clicked. Vlad's plan came clearly into view inside his mind. The only thing Vlad had wanted the entire time was his mom...and now he had her.

Still in shock, he opened the second piece of paper.

_Daniel, _

_Do not follow your mother. If you do, you will not relish the consequences of your actions. Find an excuse. _

_You have been warned. _

_Plasmius _

Danny crumpled the second paper in his hand, not realizing he'd disintegrated it with an ectoplasmic blast until he saw the ashes falling from his fist.

"That bad?" Nora asked warily. Danny felt too frustrated and angry to speak, so he simply nodded. "What's wrong?"

"I have to find my dad," he growled, spinning to stalk down the stairs. She didn't follow.

When he reached the bottom, he glanced around, looking for his father's familiar, large figure. He spotted the orange jumpsuit almost immediately, and his look of anger quickly faded to an icy worry.

"DAD!" he yelped, dashing over to where his father lay on the floor. He looked like he'd been there for days, although Danny knew it couldn't have been more than a few hours since his mother left...how long had he been like this? Danny placed a hand on his father's shoulder gently, taking in the other's physical state as best he could, wondering if he had been injured or...killed.

"Danny?" the large man croaked. Despite the fact that it only barely sounded like his father's voice, Danny felt relief wash over him. Vlad hadn't gotten to him after all. Danny started to notice a few details he'd missed in his panic. Jack obviously hadn't shaved that day. A scruffy 5 o-clock shadow made itself known across the strong chin, emphasizing the lack of care that accompanied the utterly depressed expression. Even the material of his suit looked rumpled (Danny didn't know that was even possible with Spandex).

Biting his lip, Danny turned his attention to the phone that been left off the hook next to the older man's head. A busy signal rang clearly from it before he shut it off, wondering how his father could stand the constant, annoying noise.

"Dad, what happened?" he asked. Jack's look of curiosity faded back to depression.

"Your mother and I got in a fight," he sighed. "She left...gone with Vlad Masters...you know, I've never been jealous of anyone, but I'm jealous of him now." Once again, Danny noticed how weak and defeated the once confident voice sounded. Where there had always been certainty, now there remained none. He sounded empty and uncaring, and in a state that Danny knew all too well. "I'm just glad you're home."

Danny couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, Dad. I'm home."

"Your mother wanted–"

"I know, Dad," the teenager interrupted.

Jack only blinked. "She went with–"

"Vlad Masters to his home in Wisconsin to look for Jazz. You told me." His father's unusually sallow face simply bobbed in a nod.

"Danny?" Both pairs of eyes snapped towards the stairwell, but scattered inventions blocked Jack's view from the ground.

"Who's there?" he asked, although his tone clearly stated that he didn't really care.

"Er...a friend." Danny shot a glance at Nora, who looked apologetic, and turned to go upstairs.

Danny sighed. "Nora, wait," he shook his head and looked down at his father. "Dad, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately...and I've come to a conclusion. A lot of choices you and I have made in the past are directly responsible for a lot of what's happening right now...everything from my running away, to Jazz being kidnapped, to Mom leaving."

"How are _you_ responsible for your Mother leaving?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"Because," Danny tried not to choke on his next words. "If...if I would have told you my secret at the beginning, none of this would have  
happened." That caught his father's attention. "Your secret?" he asked incredulously. "You mean the one you ran away for?" Danny looked down and nodded. "What kind of secret is it, Danny? What kind of trouble did you get into that you couldn't tell your mother and I?"

Danny looked entirely deflated and defeated, as he sat with his head against the wall, and his arms around his legs.

"Do you really want to know, Dad?" he asked. "Because I can tell you why we're both at least partially responsible for the situation, who's mostly responsible, and why we're the only ones that can fix it...but I want to know first: do you _honestly_ want to know?"

Something in his son's voice caused Jack to sit up, a look resembling his former self touching his now determined eyes.

"Danny, I know I'm not the best father, and I know I'm not the best person...but you're my son. No matter what happened, we'll fix it...but you need to tell us before we can help you."

His little speech brought an almost hopeful smile to Danny's face. Hearing his father talk like he used to, before his parents had started  
arguing, brought him hope that things could get back to normal...that things could go back to the way they used to be, before his ghost powers, before arch enemies, and before people had done everything they could to make his life nothing short of miserable.

"Alright, Dad," he stood up. "I'll tell you." Jack watched his son stand there for a second before two bright rings appeared around his waist. He could only stare with an open mouth and shocked eyes as the two rings separated to leave a black and white hazmat suit, and a familiar boy with white hair and green eyes wearing it.

"Dad..." The boy looked down, his voice now echoing eerily around the room. "I'm Danny Phantom."

* * *

Okay, I know I promised to have this finished by Saterday, but my friend called threatening suicide when I was going to post all of this, and my friends lives are slightly more important to me...sorry, I hope you understand.

I really hope this one knocks you guys for a loop...no offense. And I'm sorry if the font is weird, or if you're having issues reading it because it was messing up on me. X-P


	31. Almost Complete

Danny waited quietly for several seconds, looking anywhere but at his father. Finally, he took a deep breath, and looked up to see Jack staring at him, unblinking.

"Er...Dad?"

"Whoa." The large man shook his head, seeming to snap out of a trance. "I've had some bad dreams lately, but this one takes the cake."

Well, Danny certainly hadn't expected a pat on the back and sudden acceptance, but his dad's words made him realize that this might be harder than he'd thought—which was saying something. He rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration and growled,"Come on, Dad. Think about it! Why do you think I was so scared to tell you? Remember that accident when I got the portal to work? Well, I was inside it at the time!"

Jack's head shot up. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF GHOSTS WERE YOU DOING IN THERE? We told you to stay away from it for a reason!"

Danny blinked his neon eyes for several seconds before what his father had said sank in. "You mean...you knew this could happen?"

Jack scratched his head absentmindedly. "We reconfigured the matrix so that if something like that DID happen, then it wouldn't actually kill anyone. We didn't think it would infuse spectral DNA..." He looked up at Danny. "That's what happened, isn't it?"

Danny shrugged. "How should I know?"

"It had to be," his father continued, almost seeming to forget that Danny stood directly in front of him. "We used the strongest ectoplasmic residue sample we could find...stronger than the one I found in college, even. That's the only reason that prototype worked at all. Well,with Maddie's and Vlad's..." his voice hardened when he said his 'best friend's' name. He cleared his throat, "With their help, of course. That's why Vlad's acne case was so serious, too. The potency of the beam that hit him…the DNA from the sample..." He faded off and shook his head, scooting against the wall and assuming a half-lotus position. "He's lucky he didn't die, especially with the calculations off as far as they were. But you." He looked up at Danny incredulously. "That had to be a full body contact. I can only imagine the pain…I…" He glanced up warily. "Are you sure you're alright?"

A half smile crossed the hybrid's sad face, and he nodded. Silence settled like a down comforter over the room. After a few seconds, Danny sighed, and–still in ghost mode–walked over to sit beside his father. He leaned his head back against the wall, but still could not make himself relax completely. After all, he'd just told a ghost hunter, related or not,his secret.He still wasn't sure what the reaction would be.

Trying to keep his thoughts away from that, he focused on the mess of the lab. He could still see Nora standing at the doorway in his peripheral vision. He held up a finger to ask her to wait a few more seconds, before letting out a heavy sigh and allowing the silence to return.

"It does..." his father said finally. "It all makes sense now. Your grades," Danny winced, "how you always run off, your clumsiness..." He looked over at his son, who looked back with wary green eyes. "But..." he raised an eyebrow warily, "Ghosts are Evil."

"No." Danny shook his head emphatically. "Most ghosts are power-hungry or obsessive. I guess that makes some of them evil, but some of them aren't, though. The Dairy King's a great guy...er...spirit."

"Wait." Jack blinked. "You've met the ghost of the Dairy King?"

Danny couldn't help but smile. "And I've fought off about a hundred others, too."

"But, what about the attack on the Mayor, and us," his expression darkened, "and those robberies a few months ago?"

"Robb–oh, er...the ringleader of that Circus had a staff that controlled ghosts... I really wasn't myself at the time," he gulped. "But his staff got broken, so we don't have to worry about that. And the reason I...er...shot at you guys with the mayor incident, was I thought you were overshadowed. You know, taken over by a ghost? The mayor was... Aghost named Walker was trying to get revenge on me–"

"Revenge!"

Danny shook his head with a sad smile. "Dad, we have a lot to catch up on...but I want you to know, I am not evil. I made a promise to you guys--although you won't remember it--that I would remain a hero, and I intend to do so, even if it kills me." He suddenly closed his eyes, realizing what he'd just said. "Well, the other half of me, in any case."

A halfhearted chuckle escaped his father's throat, causing Danny to look up at him out of the corner of his eyes.

Suddenly, he turned to Danny and looked him in the eyes.

"Danny, I would't care if you were the cruelest ghost in the universe. You're my son, and you could have _ALWAYS_ come to us with this. We would never hurt you, son. Never."

It didn't feel like a thousand pounds of weight lifted off of Danny's shoulders at that moment; it felt like millions. He actually had to fight back tears at the thought of not having to keep his secret any longer, and of being accepted for what he was. Not a freak, not a human, not a ghost…just Danny. Son of Jack and Maddie Fenton, and a 14-year-old boy who happened to be able to do a few things that most other humans couldn't.

He looked down. "I know, Dad. I…I think I've always known. At first, it was fun to have a secret. After that it became habit, and then…when you guys were hunting me, I could just see you strapping me to a table like that one time with the ghost you guys couldn't see, but with needles and forceps, and knives…. I had a million horrible thoughts every day, and nightmares that I made up whenever I had a moment to think. But I always knew they weren't true.

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you, Dad. Can you ever forgive me?"

If Danny thought a genuine smile was rare for him, he realized, when his father's face suddenly beamed, that he hadn't seen that expression on him for months--not since he'd come home.

"Can you forgive us for chasing you away?" The older man shook his head, the smile still splitting his face delightfully. "You couldn't do anything that would make me not proud to be your father, son. I know I don't always show it, but I do love you." Before Danny could do anything, the large man's orange and black-clad arms wrapped around him in a bear hug. While he felt like his bones were being crushed, he at least felt grateful that in this mode he didn't have to breathe.

That's when he realized that Nora still watched them, and like any normal mother--or woman--she had a few tears dripping down her cheeks. He could almost hear her say "awww", and felt his face grow hot.

"Uh...Dad?"

"Sorry, son." Jack sat back. "Now…you have to tell me EVERYTHING about ghosts!"

Danny couldn't help but burst into laughter at this. After all that had happened, his dad really hadn't changed a bit.

"Alright, Dad. But first, I want you to meet someone." He nodded towards the stairs. Other than a slight glow, the African-American woman looked completely human and alive at first glance, so he wasn't expecting too much from his father at the moment, who was obviously still trying to process what his son had just told him, despite his change of mood.

"Nice to meet you," Jack smiled hurriedly, and turned back to Danny. "Who is she?"

"Er...the mother of a very...er...of a recent friend of mine."

"You have more friends than Sam and Tucker?" Jack asked.

"Funny," Danny said sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it like that," Jack defended.

Danny smiled. "I know. Sorry, Dad. Anyway," he nodded back towards the dark-skinned woman. "They...er...they're both ghosts."

"Another ghost?" Jack put his head in his hands and sighed. "This would happen to us." Then he looked up, with a familiar gleam in his eye. "Can I catch her?" Nora blinked and took a step back with a gulp.

"No." Danny rolled his eyes, but he still had a playful look to his previously melancholy countenance. He sobered quickly before he spoke again. "You see, after my friend and I became friends, I think she was brainwashed into thinking…I guess I don't know, but something horrible about me...by my archenemy."

His father looked up with a blank stare, blinking. "You have an archenemy?"

"I'm a superhero, Dad. I have a lot of enemies...although this one is a half-ghost, too."

"Half-ghost? How many are there?" The words "kid" and "candy store" came to mind when Danny looked at his father. Still, he couldn't help but cringe.

"As far as I know, two," he said slowly. Jack looked disappointed for a moment before his features hardened in determination again.

"Any ghost that threatens my family..." Jack started, but stopped when he saw his son's look. "What?"

Danny licked his lips nervously. "Do you remember the accident with the prototype ghost portal in college?" he asked, folding his arms.

"Yes, with..." For the third time that night, Jack faded off as realization hit him. Danny couldn't even smile at his expression with the gravity of the situation looming over him. "You mean...?" With that, any happiness in the room vanished.

Danny nodded gravely. "Yep. Vlad Masters. He's been after Mom since college, and he always hated you for, and I quote, 'taking her away' from him. He's been sending me nightmares...and Mom–"

"Nightmares?" Danny couldn't remember his father ever changing moods so quickly or being so angry in his entire life. "You mean, all of this is...is his fault!" Jack stood and began to pace. Danny watched as the black-gloved fists opened and clenched while his almost giant form stalked around the basement; a mood that the teenager knew, from experience, was dangerous.

"Dad," Danny said cautiously, "don't look like that, please. It scares me." He'd seen the look of extreme anger that now twisted his father's face only twice before: once on Vlad Masters when Maddie had rejected him in Colorado, and the other on Danny's future evil self, Dan Phantom. It was a look of pure loathing and utter hatred, and it wasn't an expression that suited his father at all.

Jack ground his teeth as he spoke his next few phrases. "All these years I thought he was my friend. I thought that he hated dropping out of college, not me! I thought that he'd gotten over Maddie when in actuality–"

"DAD!" Danny reached up and grabbed his father's broad shoulders. "Dad, don't," he pleaded. "He's not worth it. And now do you see why we're the only ones that can undo all of this? Please." He took a step back. "If we go into this, don't hate him. I've seen so much hatred since I got these powers...but from you? I've been through things so horrific that I could never begin to describe them, and I survived...but I couldn't handle that. Not from you, Dad. Not from you."

For a moment, Jack looked like he was about to argue, until he slumped back against the wall, looking completely deflated.

"I'm sorry, son," he whispered. "It's just that I–I–" He sighed and looked up. "I won't hate him, for you, Danny. I promise I won't."

For the first time in months, a smile appeared on Danny's face. Not the fake, upside-down frown that he plastered on just to please everyone else, but a true, heartfelt smile.

"Thanks, Dad." He looked over at Nora and motioned for her to come and sit by him as he detransformed and plopped in front of his dad.

"Now, like I said, it's up to the three of us to fix this, so I may as well tell you everything, and tell you what we're up against." The two adults nodded, and he leaned in, running a hand through his black hair.

As he began to speak, though, even he noticed his voice seemed lighter. A weight he'd been carrying around for more than a year had just been thrown off of his shoulders, and all the problems he'd caused, with his immaturity and hasty actions, they'd fix. He knew it. Or maybe he just hoped it, but somehow, he felt confident they would find a way.

It felt good to hope again, and this was the first time in what felt like centuries that he dared to have hope. His father had accepted him, just as he had predicted the first time he'd fought Vlad; and at that moment, the only other thing that mattered was getting his family and friends back. His life had begun to drift back towards good, and for the first time since before the accident, he felt almost complete.

End book 2

* * *

Yep, here's the last chapter! If you feel chainsaws will get your frustration out at where I end it, I can't say that I'd be too upset. Just...don't say I didn't warn you.

Thanks again for everyone who's stuck with me this far. It means a great deal to me. 


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